Friend or Foe?
by NJ7009
Summary: When Leonardo is threatened, he must betray his very reason for living to protect his family. He must become a criminal. However, when you are the leader of a group of turtles who fight crime, it is not going to be easy to keep secret. What will happen? Will his brothers find out their leader is now their foe? 2003' Verse. For my cousin.
1. Strange Activity

**Hayy world of TMNT! and welcome to my first story for this category.**

**This story is dedicated to my cousin who begged me to write a TMNT story as he is obsessed (seriously) and I kinda had this little idea for a story anyways so... well here it is. **

**I hope you like this story and please review! It would be very much appreciated.**

**I don't own TMNT but I do own the plot and any OC's I may or may not add :)**

Leonardo crouched inside the tree, waiting. The sound of rain crashing through the canopy of leaves and branches filled his ears and the half-crecent moon was hidden behind the blanket of grey clouds. He was alone. Normally, Leonardo is only alone when he does his morning training on the rooftops of New York city and when he reads the occasional book while his brothers are at arcade, but this wasn't either of those times. He was here to spy on the foot.

Leonardo had seen members of the foot crawling around the city a lot lately. Usually during the morning as he trained. Yet they never attacked him. They only stared at him blankly for a while. Sometimes, Leonardo would un-sheath his two loyal ninjaken swords when there was a group of them, but then they would just ran away cowardly. It made little sense to Leo and so, he decided to follow one of them back to their hideout to find out what they were up to.

If his master, Master Splinter, knew what he was up to. He would have demanded he take his brothers for backup or not to go at all, before stating it was for his safety. But Splinter didn't know anything on what his student was doing. Leonardo knew it was for the best. It was better not to worry his elderly father when he already had enough on his mind with his younger brothers; Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo.

The reason Leonardo didn't bring any of his brothers along, was for a different reason from why he didn't tell his Splinter what he was doing. For Raphael, it was his temper and impatience which was normally his and the group's downfall and could get them detected. Donatello, although he is a great fighter, was too much of a tech guy to ever be one for stealth. While he held too much responsibility to protect Michelangelo to bring him into such a dangerous situation, with him being the youngest of the group.

Leo peered through the branches again and waited for a member of the foot to pass by. He had followed one of them around the city but had somehow managed to lose him. That is when Leo had seen the tree planted into the cement and had decided to wait for the next member of the foot there.

He didn't know how long he had been there though. It had definitely been around two hours at the least. However, Leonardo didn't really seem to notice how slow the hours had dragged on. If he had brought Raph with him, he would surely be complaining. Leonardo took comfort from the thought. He did feel a little guilty for not letting his brothers or his sensei know where he was going. What if they realised he was missing? He really didn't want anyone to worry. That, and he didn't want his brothers to search for him when he had enough to focus on.

Another hour slowly passed and Leonardo's willpower was beginning to weaken. Maybe the foot just weren't prowling the city tonight or they knew he was following them and had called off any meeting or gathering they had arranged. It did seem highly likely, since he hadn't seen any foot ninjas for all these hours when they normally went as far as to watch him in plain sight.

Leo was considering going back to the sewer when he heard fast-approaching footsteps. They sounded like heavy boots to the blue-clad turtle so he hovered his eye over the hole in the leaves he had created during the long wait and waited for the owner of the footsteps to pass by. After a few moments, two figures walked past.

To the normal eye, the two figures looked as if they were in ninja costumes on their way to a fancy-dress party; but to the sword wielder, he knew that they weren't just some innocent citizens. They were members of the foot!

The two ninjas were totally unaware of Leonardo's presence so they continued down the quiet street, continuing their conversation. Leonardo leaned closer to the leaves and he tried to pick up pieces of what they were saying.

"I don't think he's here, Bruss." The one furthest away said, looking over at his accomplice. "He must have gone back!"

Bruss stopped and turned to face the ninja. "If we go back with nothing, the boss will kill us! You know what he's like. Besides, Daniel said that he was planning to follow us. He could just be hiding someplace."

Leonardo felt himself stiffen when he realised they were talking about him. How could he be so stupid as to think that they didn't want him to follow them? Leonardo knew it had been strange the way they had just kept watching him during his training. Yet he was so stupid, he didn't even think that is what they wanted. Him to get curious and follow them and now he was stuck in a potential trap.

Leonardo felt bitterly disappointed with himself for not seeing this coming. Imagine if he had brought his brothers or his sensei with him! That would have made the matter a lot worse. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if one of his brothers got hurt. He still felt a little guilty about the blowing-up-of-the-spaceship-to-destroy-Shredder thing, even though he had learnt to except that was all he could have done.

Leonardo was so busy with his thoughts that he didn't hear the shuffle in the branches behind him. If only he had!

_"Ahhh Leonardo! You should know it's rude to eavesdrop!"_

Leonardo froze at the voice, but before he could do anything. He felt a stong contact on that back of his head...and then...darkness.


	2. To Protect The Ones You Love

Leonardo awoke in a dimly lit room. His head stung from the hit and he felt light-headed but he felt, mostly, fine.

It took Leonardo a few moments to process what had happened and when he had, a chill ran up his spine. He'd gotten himself captured! Oh Shell!

The blue-masked turtle tried to move, but he quickly realised he couldn't, his hands were bound to some sort of metal pipe. Leo cursed insults at himself under his breath for his stupidity. He was the leader of group of crime fighters and yet, he'd been defeated before he even take out his swords. Leo knew he was being a little hard on himself, but he knew it was his responsibility to be a perfect leader and if he couldn't even protect himself, who could he protect?

Leo was just getting lost in his dark thoughts when he heard a door open. On instinct. Leonardo looked up to see who was there but it was too dark to even see where the door was. Leonardo scanned his eyes over the darkness, trying to see a sign of life but he found nothing, though he could hear the figures boots against the concrete floor.

"Who's there?" Leonardo called, sounding brave. Leonardo knew most people would be scared if they were in his place, but after all those years of fighting crime and all the fear he had felt, his sense of fear had just seemed to fade. Nowadays, the only thing that really scared him was when a member of his family were hurt or missing.

No reply came from the figure, but Leonardo could still hear his footsteps as they echoed around the dark room. "I know your there, now who are you?" Leo tried again.

"_Such a determined turtle and so young. It is a surprise you are the leader of a group of turtles who have done so well in interrupting my plans, Leonardo. But you should have stayed in the sewers where you belong!"_

The voice sent shivers shooting up the turtles spine. He knew that voice only too well and it belonged to someone horrid; twisted and evil. He believed this person was dead, yet here he was. Wait! This person wasn't really human...

"_Ahh look, I have stunned the poor turtle. You must remember me!" _The figures twisted laugh filled his ears and Leo could now see the figures outline as he stood just behind the sheet of darkness.

"You could say that," Leonardo said, "Shredder!"

X-X-X

The figure walked out of the gloom and it was, indeed, Shredder. "I would have thought you would be able to guess quicker, Leonardo. I knew you would figure out the plan to lure you out of hiding eventually, but the second you left that sewer, all hope of getting back home again was done for;" Shredder stated with a smirk.

"What do you want with me, Shredder?" Leonardo said through gritted teeth, fixing the man a glare. The fact that the figure was Shredder made the capture situation a lot worse for the turtle. He knew he stood very little chance against him in a fight, with him being so alone; and if Shredder so desired, he could kill him or torture him even. Heck! He could even use him to threaten his brothers with, if that is what he wished.

Shredder rested his palm against the wall, just above Leo's head and glanced down at the blue-masked turtle. "Hmmm, what an excellent question, Leonardo," Shredder grinned slyly. "I just have a little proposition for you, which you have no choice, but to accept.

"What do you mean?" He asked wearily. His glare dropping into a look of confusion and horror.

Leo dreaded the answer as he knew it was going to effect his brothers and his sensei hugely. But what he feared most, was if Shredder blackmailed him to do something that would tear him and his family apart.

Leonardo couldn't have been closer to Shredder's plan.

Shredder's smirk deepened, almost as if it was engraving itself into the man's face. Shredder had been looking forward to this part. "Leonardo. As you have clearly noticed, a few of my foot ninjas have been watching you closely lately; specifically when you trained during the mornings by yourself." Leonardo nodded in response. Leo had told his brothers of his sightings of the foot ninjas, but his brothers never seemed to notice them. It was almost as if they were invisible to their eyes. Maybe it was because the foot only wanted to be seen by the leader. That could also explain them watching him in plain sight.

"Well that wasn't just to lure you into a trap, Leonardo. It was a test! Like when we first met and I had one of my foot ninjas shoot an arrow at you. I wanted to see how you have grown as a fighter and I am pleased to admit you have improved even more in your fighting." Leonardo was taken aback at the statement; did the mighty Shredder just complement him? It was too weird to actually be true, yet, he was sure that he had.

The Shredder's twisted smile, grew even more, "So, this is where the little proposition comes in. You see, I figured that my foot ninjas are too... what's the word... unskilled, to be able to pull off the everyday crimes that I need them to commit. That is where you come in Leonardo!"

Leonardo felt his heart quicken. What was he getting at?

"So this is the proposition, turtle. Either you commit the crimes I ask of you to do, or, I will send all my foot ninjas to attack your family and you will be forced to watch! It seems to me you only have one choice, eh Leonardo?"

Leonardo felt himself freeze and his eyes widen. He couldn't put his family in harm's way, he just couldn't! They were all he had! But, working for the Shredder would kill him inside; he hated the Utron more than anything after all he had done to the universe and his already, complicated life.

To the turtle, the were both heart-wrenching feats and it was just the matter of wondering which one would hurt him more; Working for Shredder? or putting his family in harm's way? Leonardo already knew the answer.

"If I work for you, you will leave my family alone?" Leonardo asked, quietly and calmly. Shredder simply waved his hand.

"Yes, yes, I will leave them alone!" He assured, still looking pretty smug with himself. Leonardo sighed deeply. He was putting himself in grave danger here by agreeing to work with him, along with destroying everything the turtle was taught to believe. But what choice did he have? It was his beliefs or his family's lives.

Leonardo looked at the floor with shame as he said the words that he never, even in his darkest nightmares, dreamt he would say. "Fine. I will work for you!"


	3. Returning Home

The moment Leonardo had agreed to work for the Shredder, his foe immediately began filling him in with what to do. "Every night from now on. You will wait on the rooftops of the old apartment buildings downtown and await further instructions from either a foot ninja, me, or an arrow-gram." He ordered, undoing the restraints that kept Leo bounded to the pipe.

Leonardo nodded, indicating he understood. There was a moment when Shredder had freed him that he considered making a run for it, but he knew he wouldn't dare. He was out numbered for a starters; as there were probably hundreds of foot ninjas outside that door. He was also unarmed. Shredder must have taken away his swords when he had been unconscious...

The list was endless in the turtle's mind, but the reason that stuck out the most to him was that Master Splinter had taught him to live with honour. To fight with honour. He knew he has lost most of the honour he had earned by agreeing to help Shredder, but he wasn't going to lose even more by trying to escape a deal he had attached himself to. Shredder knew this only too well. That is the reason he had taken Leonardo instead of another, like Raphael, as he knew honour meant a lot to the blue-masked amphibian. That, and he knew he would suffer the most out of the turtles mentally, by working for him.

Leonardo quickly go to his feet and Shredder tossed him his precious swords. Leonardo examined them for any damage, before putting them in the quiver on his back

Leo was just about to walk out the door, when Shredder placed his hand on his shoulder. "By the way Leonardo, I think it's best if we leave this little meeting between us. We don't want your brothers to be a distraction now, do we?" Leo shook his head slowly.

Shredder smiled at his new accomplice, "Good, now be on your way!"

X-X-X

Leonardo arrived back at the sewer right at the crack of dawn. This would normally be the time he would go out for his morning training on the rooftops of the city, but he felt too defeated and tired to even bother with that today. He hadn't slept all night. Unless if you count being knocked out for two hours as sleeping.

Leonardo slipped through the manhole and made sure he secured the top correctly, before setting off. As he walked through the maze of filthy, sewage tunnels. He thought of what he had gotten himself into...

One thing that was clear, was that the blue turtle's guilt for what he had done was slowly, eating him alive. He was the eldest and he felt he had betrayed his brothers and master. He felt he should have done something besides surrender to the Shredder, he told himself he could have done something... anything... Yet. Leonardo couldn't think of anything he could have done. It wasn't like he could fight and if he refused, his brothers and sensei would be harmed.

That was one thing he didn't regret about his decision. Leonardo knew he had done the right thing by choosing crime (nevermind how much he hated the thought) over his families death. They were all he had after all and they meant the world to him! They were the things that kept him fighting, both in combat and through life, and vice-versa. He would never do anything to harm him and would even work for the Shredder if it would keep them safe. But the idea of working for Shredder still sent chills down his spine.

Leonardo eventually reached the part of the sewer pipes where he and his family lived and he swiftly walked through the door. Using his ninja-like reflexes to quietly close the door, Leonardo turned and began to head back to where he normally slept. But he wasn't the only one up at that early hour.

"My son. Have you been for you morning exercises already?" Shell!

Leonardo turned and saw his master, Splinter, sitting on a small square mat in the middle of the room with his legs crossed. He seemed to have just woke up from some sort of relaxed state. Of course! Splinter always mediates in the morning! Leonardo quickly realised he hadn't replied to his master yet so he bowed.

"Yes, Sensei." Leonardo lied; feeling the guilt treble inside of him for lying to his master.

Splinter looked up at his student. "I suggest you go back to bed, Leonardo. You look like you could do with a little more rest." Wow! was it that obvious he hadn't slept? Leo nodded towards his master shortly, before he quickly rushed off to his room. He fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow.


	4. Feeling The Guilt

Leonardo awoke five hours later to the sound of someone repeating his name and shaking his shoulder gently. "Leo? Leeeoooo! Time to wake uuuuuppppp!" The voice rang in his ears and he recognised it immediately as the voice of his youngest brother, Mikey. Leo groaned loudly in response, before sitting up straight, rubbing his eyes to rid the blurriness.

However, when he did manage to focus his vision, he quickly held out his hands and grabbed Mikey's wrists. "Mikey! What are you doing?!" Mikey stood besides his brothers bed, holding a glass full of water, and he looked as if he was about to tip onto his un-expecting brother...

"Hayy your up, bro! I thought I was going to need to tip this on you. You have slept late today, Leo, you have missed breakfast." Leonardo let go of his brothers wrists as he set the glass down on the small, wooden table besides his brothers bed; where all Leo's wax candles stood, unlit. Mikey looked a little disappointed for not getting the chance to tip the water over his brother, but that didn't last long.

"What time is it?" Leo asked, sounding groggy, gliding his hands across his face. The deal he had made with the Shredder was still fresh in his mind and he still felt terrible, but the turtle felt determined not to let his brother find out his dark secret. If he did, chances were Shredder would harm him. He had warned him to keep his mouth shut.

"Half-past eleven."

"WHAT!?" Leonardo suddenly felt wide awake as he leaped out of bed, causing Mikey to jump back in surprise. The blue turtle never slept that late, Splinter made sure of that. The rat normally got them up at seven every morning and when he felt nice, eight. But never eleven! This was probably the latest he had ever woken up.

Mikey put his hands up in a sort of surrendering pose. "Wow, wow, wow there, bro! Don't run me over now. Master Splinter said you needed more rest so he let you sleep in, you looked like you needed it."

Leo would be lying if he'd said that the extra sleep hadn't helped him. He had been pretty tired when Splinter had sent him to his room, but now he just felt bad that this generous act couldn't be for someone who deserved it; like Donatello. Leo felt that he didn't deserve anything but a dark, cold cave in the middle of nowhere where people could throw rocks at him and treat him like he deserved to be treated.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, before picking his ninjato swords of the table. Mikey watched him as he secured them to his back and soon, they were making their way towards the main part of the lair.

As they walked through the entrance, Leo felt his heart begin to burn with worry. What if someone asked him what he did last night? No doubt Splinter had probably mentioned him coming through the front door in the early hours of the morning by now, but if the master asked him the reason then he would have to lie again.

Leo scanned his eyes over the large space and immediately found his other two brothers; Donatello and Raphael. Donatello was busily typing on his computer whilst talking into his head set which Leo suspected was on with April, whilst Raphael was busily punching a dummy in the middle of the room, putting all his power and fury into the hits he dished out.

Leo knew he didn't want to be on the receiving end of those hits. Raph was the strongest of the group after all and the most hotheaded. Leo had fought his brother many times though, more than his other two brothers put together, and he knew he would no doubt fight with him more in the future too. But he still cared for his brother nevertheless and he knew his brother felt the same about him, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Thinking of his brother's wild temper, made him wonder how he would react if he learnt of his association with Shredder. Leo feared he would never forgive him, that is, if he lived long enough. Leo had the most horrible feeling that Shredder was watching him somehow to make sure he didn't say anything he shouldn't, Shredder had never been one for sloppiness after all.

"How are you feeling, Leonardo," a calm voice asked, interrupting the turtles thoughts. Leo punched his open palm and bowed at his Master as he walked over to him.

"Fine, Master Splinter!" Leo responded calmly, but truthfully, he didn't feel fine in the least. His guilt seemed to cling to his heart and when he spoke to a family member, it tightened around it, making it hard to breath. He felt so repulsed by himself, so disappointed, so...so...

"Good," Splinter responded. Donnie and Raph had noticed their elder's arrival now and had stopped their activity's to turn and look at him.

"Wow you up late! How come fearless over here got to sleep in?" Raph asked Splinter, sounding annoyed. He had never been one for the early mornings, or Mikey.

Splinter turned to look at his student. "Raphael! I told you Leonardo needed more rest. You must learn to listen, my son." Raphael huffed, before he returned his attention to the dummy, clearly showing no intent of actually learning to listen to his fathers request.

Donnie was showing a different approach to his brother. Rather than whining like Raphael had, he simply didn't say anything at all. Leo prefered this to his other brother's reaction. He didn't need something else to be guilty about.

As the hours passed, it seemed to the turtles that this was going to be another normal day. But Leonardo's mind kept wandering back to the deal he'd made with Shredder and the agreement that he'd wait on the rooftop of the old apartment building downtown, that very night. He wished he'd been given more time to come to terms with what he'd agreed to but he dared not refuse to go. For one, his honour would be ripped to pieces if he didn't and two, his family's lives were at stake.

Leonardo could only hope that the crimes he would have to comit wouldn't be that bad... but really, the crimes Shredder had in mind were worse than bad. They would tear him apart...


	5. Crime Number One Part 1

**Thanks guys for the 12 reviews, 9 followers and 3 favs guys. I am suprised how well this story is doing**

When Leonardo reached the factory, he was met by an eerie silence. The normally restless city seemed to fade into the darkness that engulfed his surroundings and the tall, smoke towers cast spooky shadows across the concrete floor. He had never felt so alone. He normally had his brothers with him when he went to the surface and if he didn't, he was always in the main part of the city; but this factory was in the middle of nowhere. Nothing was here. What would Shredder want in a place like this?

Yanking his hood forward a little, the turtle scanned his eyes over the building for a way he could enter. The turtle had spent some time coming up with a disguise and had decided on a grey hoodie (borrowed from Casey) and some old clothes he had found in the batch of clothes the turtles owned.

Leonardo had received his mission via an arrow-gram from Shredder which a foot ninja had shot onto the old apartment buildings when he had arrived there to receive his mission...

X-X-X

_The arrow hurdled towards Leonardo and he jumped backwards to avoid it. It plunged into the floor in front of him. Glancing around, Leonardo tried to see who had shot the letter but he could see no one in the dark. Looking back at the arrow, Leonardo quickly noticed something was tied to it. _

_Picking up the arrow, he realised that it was a note that was attached to it. Throwing it to one side, Leo opened the note and read. _

Leonardo

From now on, you will receive a crime you must complete via an arrow-gram or by being told it by a foot ninja. Sometimes, you will be assigned a group of Foot Ninjas to aid you in your crimes and they will tell you your job.

Your first job is to go to a factory on Clinton Street, around five minutes from where you are standing, and steal a machine part for me and it must be the correct part. You must complete this successfully or your family will be killed.

You have been warned.

Shredder

X-X-X

After a little while, he found a window but he soon realised there was a problem. There was a huge risk of setting off a security alarm. The factory was probably full of security gadgets that would alert the police, even without his knowledge and he would have to be carefull if he wanted to stay out of trouble.

Preparing his swords, he glanced up at one of the old, dusty windows. How was he going to reach that? There was no way he was going to reach it by jumping or standing on something, it was too high! If only he had something he could use to climb the wall...

Leonardo looked down at his swords and an idea sprung into his mind. He walked up to the wall, jumped, and with all his strength, stabbed his right sword into it. Some of the concrete wall cracked and fell onto the floor, but the blade stayed in place. Much to his relief.

He jumped again and carefully grabbed onto the handle, before taking out his left sword. The turtle worried that one of or both the swords' blades would snap and leave him weaponless, the blades were pretty fragile after all, but he had no choice. He loved his swords, but he had to risk it. Tightening his grip on his left sword, he threw his arm back and stabbed it into the wall so both of the swords were inside the tough concrete. More of the wall fell to the floor beneath him, but it stayed in place like it's latter. Leo let out a breath of relief.

The blue-clad turtle jumped up and skillfully grabbed the handle of the left sword, yanking out his right sword with his free hand as he did so, before stabbing it back into the wall higher up. He repeated this action with his left sword and he soon reached a rhythm and was climbing the wall with ease. Everything was going well. That was until he was a just below the window...

The turtle was about two more swords away from the window when he had accidentally grabbed onto the blade of his left sword instead of the handle. It took about a half-second for him to notice the blade cutting into his reptilian flesh and he let out a yelp of pain, almost letting go of the sword altogether.

The pain was unbelievable. He could feel warm blood covering his hand, his flesh splitting and the shock starting to paralyze him as he kept a firm grip on the blade. Leonardo knew he couldn't let go. He would probably fall and break his neck if he did.

He forced back a few tears as he quickly took the right sword out of the wall and shakily, stabbed it just above his head. He wrapped his hand around the handle hesitantly before letting go of his left sword. He could reach the window now and proceeded in without hesitation, only stopping to grab his swords. Once he was in, he allowed himself to see how bad his hand was.

His whole hand was completely coated with a red substance he recognised as blood. The blade has cut pretty deep and you could see the colour change from the lighter red of oxygenated blood, to the darker red of the little oxygenated blood. It stung terribly and he held it gently in his other hand. This was going to make his mission a lot harder! Plus he was going to have to come up with an alibi to tell his brothers when they see it.

Trying his best to ignore the pain, Leonardo examined his surroundings for any sign of the part. What made his mission a lot harder was that Shredder hadn't said what the part looked like or what he was building, so he had no idea what he was searching for. Machines weren't his thing anyways. They were Donatello's calling.

Leo stepped forwards and jumped when a loud siren like noise filled his ears. '_There goes the alarm,'_ he thought to himself. He had about five minutes untill the police showed up and that was when he realised that he would have no choice but to worry about his hand later and focus on finding the part. Proceeding onwards, he looked at the interior of the factory.

The only interior inside the huge space was a million rows of work benches with what looked like car parts stacked on top of it. How was he supposed to know which part was correct? He hadn't even been given a basic description.

Leo felt panic begin to rise in his stomach. There was so much at stake and he had no idea what he was doing! What if he brought back the wrong piece? or if he got himself caught by the police. He doubted a hoodie and a mask was going to stop them from unveiling him.

_'Don't panic! Don't panic!" _the turtle told himself, '_C'mon you can do this!'_

But could he really?

X-X-X

_Meanwhile..._

"Don? Don wake up!" a voice said through Donatello's head set, waking him from his deep slumber. He groaned loudly at the voice.

"What is it, April?" He mumbled, opening his blurry eyes and adjusting the head set so he could talk into it. What was she doing calling him so early? It was at least two in the morning. He stretched his arms and yawned before sitting up straight.

"Oh good your up! I have tried to wake you for ages. I think the Foot are planning something..."

"Are they ever not?" Don said sarcastically. He was very rarely sarcastic, but he hated being woken up. He prefered to leave that to his alarm clock.

"Well... no, but I was looking through the cities surveillance footage and I saw a Foot ninja send an arrow-gram to this guy in a grey hoodie. I think their up to something," April said, sounding tired.

Don raised a brow. Leo had mentioned that he had seen Foot ninjas while he trained in the morning. Maybe they were trying to gain power again? Since Shredder had fallen, the Foot had lost much of their territory to a bunch of different street gangs and without their leader to guide them, they hardly put up a challenging fight. Don, however, didn't know that Shredder had been reserected or that the reason his brother had seen the Foot ninjas was to lure him into Shredder's grasp, but how could he? He may be smart but he wasn't psychic.

"Hmmm maybe, send me a picture of the guy in a hoodie; the foot ninja and also send the latest police feeds. The Foot might be up to something and I want to see if I can recognise the two figures," The purple-clad turtle instructed.

"Okay, I am sending them to your computer now," April said.

Donatello got up and started to make his way towards the lair where his computer was waiting for him. Once he reached it, he quickly turned it on and started scrolling through his emails. As expected, there was an email from April. He clicked it and saw two images; a normal foot ninja who held a bow in his hands and a bulky figure in a grey hoodie.

He enlarged the photo of the foot ninja but found nothing of interest. The guy in the grey hoodie however, looked peculiar. The figure looked like a regular street gangster to the turtle, but the gangsters of New York normally didn't bother with the Foot. They barely interacted. Why would a member of the Foot send an arrow-gram to a gangster? Something wasn't right.

A few moments later, another email from April came into his inbox containing the police feeds. He scanned his eyes over them but one in particular jumped out at him. The feed showed the details of a break-in on Clinton Street and it explained how an alarm had gone off in the factory on that street about two minutes ago. It also said that a window had also been smashed.

Could this be the work of the Foot?

Standing up from his chair, he made his way towards his brothers bedrooms. They were going to investigate.

X-X-X

To say Leonardo was panicking would be an understatment. He was practically doing cartwheels in panic. He didn't have much time but he was stuck, barely able to think, as he fretted over where a machine part which he didn't have a description of could be. This was getting ridiculous.

Suddenly, a sound of shattering glass sounded behind him and Leo jumped, turning quickly to face the source of the sound. It turned out one of the factory windows had smashed... but how? He had been miles away from the window. Were the police here already? It was then the turtle noticed a rock, no bigger than a pebble, lay in the midst of the shattered glass. Leonardo timidly stepped towards it, carefully avoiding the broken glass beneath his feet. He eventually reached the pebble and picked it up with his non-injured hand, swiping the glass off it. He soon realised there was a letter tied to it.

Thinking to himself that he had received many letters that day, he untied the note and brought it to his face and he felt his eyes widen. There was a drawing of the machine part he needed with a small letter at the bottom.

_Leonardo_

_This is a drawing of the machine part you need and I hope this can be of assistance to you. However you don't have much time. You only have about two more minutes before the police arrive. _

_Good luck_

_A friend_

X-X-X

"Don, what is this about?" Raphael asked gruffly, as the pair knocked on Michelangelo's door. The red-clad turtle had been pretty annoyed when Donatello had woken him from his slumber, saying that they needed to go to some place in the middle of nowhere; but after some coaxing, the purple turtle eventually managed to get his brother out of bed and now they were trying to wake the youngest of the family, Michelangelo.

"We need to go to Clinton Street. Me and April think the Foot are up to something," Donatello replied simply; knocking on the door again.

A few moments later, there was a shuffle from behind the door before it swung open, revealing the orange-clad turtle. "Wow guys, what up with the wake up call?" He asked groggily, rubbing his eyes.

"The Foot are up to something according to brainiac," Raph said grumpily, crossing his arms. Mikey nodded curtly, before going back into his room to grab his nunchucks.

"Where's Leo?" He asked, closing the door behind him as he joined his brothers.

"We were just going to wake him now," Donatello said.

The trio began to walk to Leonardo's room, but what they didn't know was that their leader wasn't going to be there.


	6. Crime Number One Part 2

**Okay guys, for some reason this chapter was deleted from the story. So, I will have to rewrite it. However, I am busy at the moment so I will give the summary for this chapter so you can keep reading this story even without the chapter until it is written again. **

In this chapter, a rock was hurdled through the window and into the room with a letter attached to it reading that Leonardo didn't have much time. It also included a drawing of the part he needed. Leonardo eventually finds this part attached to a car engine which he prys free using his katana. He escapes through the window before he is spotted.


	7. Where Were You?

**Thanks for all the reviews guys and a special thank you to Knighted-Geek for the advice. **

**I hope you like this chapter guys**

**(This version is a little better as I updated this yesterday)**

It wasn't untill Leonardo had reached the old, apartment buildings that what he had just done really sunk in. He had done it. It was over. He was not a good guy anymore but the exact opposite, he was a criminal!

The guilt was starting to really claw at him now, even more mercilessly than before. It was almost as if it was tearing his soul apart, piece by piece, untill finally only a broken being was left behind. An alive being! but pretty much dead.

The turtle's thoughts began to wonder to his brothers, but he quickly stopped himself when a sob escaped his lips. What would they think if they ever found out? He imagined Raph would by no doubt drive his sais into his neck, Donnie would probably look at him with shame and Mikey, oh Mikey! His reaction would probably hurt him the most. He imagined that he would give him the silent treatment.

What made little sense to Leonardo was that if he was doing this to protect his brothers, then why did he feel like he had betrayed them? He just felt so ashamed of himself, so disappointed, that he knew that even looking at them would cause his heart to ache from all the betrayal.

He stopped his thoughts as he placed the machine part onto the roof along with the clothes, before running hopping off the roof again and back into the shadows of the night. He knew that, no matter how much it would be difficult and kill him inside, he would have to keep lying to his brothers and keep deceiving them. He didn't want to, but he must. Shredder was a dangerous being and if he said he would hurt something, he would! In fact, he would probably take great pleasure in slicing the throats of his brothers...

These dark thoughts never left Leonardo's mind as he walked to the manhole which lead to the lair. Not for a moment did he stop thinking about what he had done. He just prayed silently that sleep would help ease his guilt... Of course, he didn't know about his brothers...

X-X-X

"Where the _shell _have you been, Leo?" Raph hissed at the blue-clad turtle as he stepped into the lair. Leo jumped a mile. He wasn't expecting his brothers to me up, in the least and he still hadn't come up with an excuse for his bleeding hand yet. He gulped down some fluid that was inside his mouth and slowly began putting his hand behind his shell.

"Uh what?" Leo stammered, trying to rid the panic and guilt from his voice. Luckily, this was something he did well; hiding his emotions.

"You! Leo! Where have ya been? We have been searchin' for ya for hours." Raph said gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Donnie and Mikey heard their eldest brothers voice and quickly entered the main part of the lair where Raph and Leo were standing. A wave of relief washed over the pair of them when they saw the turtle and the bounded over to them with large grins on their faces. "Leo!" Mikey exclaimed, his normal, excited grin larger than ever.

Leo smiled back at his younger brothers, "Hayy."

Raph had remained quiet during this little exchange, but his patience didn't last long. He had never been patient anyways. "Leo? Where have you _fricken_ been? We have looked all over for ya, now spill! What are ya up to?" He demanded.

"None of you business," Leo replied simply. He knew this would anger his younger brother but he wasn't about to just blab about what he had done, and even if he was stupid enough too, Raph would probably be more angry then, anyways.

Raphael scowled angrily, his patience fading as the seconds passed. Out of the corner of Leonardo's eye, he could see Mikey mouth to Donatello, "Oh here we go."

"What do ya mean it's none of my fricken business? Damn Leo! You vanish in the middle of the night, worry us all, then you come back and say it's not my business to know where you have been?" Raphael snapped. As much as it warmed Leo's heart knowing how much his brother had been concerned for him, it also made him feel even more guilty. He didn't deserve their concern! He was a criminal. He had deceived them, betrayed them...

What none of the turtles had noticed, including Leonardo, was that Leo's blood covered hand was now in plain sight. Well. Nobody besides Donatello... "What is that on your hand?" the purple-clad turtle asked quietly, his voice soft yet with a hint of fear.

Leo's stomach dropped and his eyes widened. OH SHELL! Raphael raised a brow at his elder brother before glancing down at his brother's hands, sure enough, there was something on his hand. "What is that?!" He exclaimed as Mikey approached his side.

Donatello stepped forwards and grabbed Leonardo's hand gently; not giving him the time nor the option to get away and carefully turned it so his palm faced upwards. Leonardo winced slightly, something Donatello noticed.

"It's blood!" Donatello assessed, his eyes wide and full of concern. The anger vanished instantly from Raphael's face, almost as if someone had thrown a bucket of water over him which swept away his fury. "What!?" he and Mikey exclaimed. "How?"

"That's what I would like to know," Donatello admitted calmly, before looking up at his eldest brother, still holding his blood covered hand. "Leo... how did you do this?" He asked softly. Leo felt a shot of pain and guilt run through him. It was the way Donnie looked at him that was the cause with his eyes full of pain and worry. It made him feel horrible!

Leonardo turned his head away from his younger brother, unable to take the unpleasant feeling or the question. Whenever he was with his brothers, it seemed. The guilt he felt increased to unimaginable heights. He thought the guilt he had felt earlier was bad but the way the purple-clad turtle was looking at him was killing him inside. He just wanted to tell them so badly, but he knew he wouldn't!

Donnie's eyes narrowed a little in confusion at his brother's action, "Leo?"

Leonardo bit his lip, "I...uhm..." he began. Running ideas through his mind. "I...g-got in a fight!" Leonardo stammered out quickly, his brothers raised a brow.

"What?"

"I got in a fight!" The leader repeated, sounding more confident and believable.

"Oh!" Raph said, sounding a little surprised. "So you were out late because you were fighting?"

"Yeah," Leonardo confirmed, feeling glad he had come up with an alibi to tell his brothers. Mikey stepped forwards from besides Raphael.

"Did you fight some guy in a grey hoodie? 'cause there was this dude who robbed a factory downtown. We were going out to fight him when we realised you were missing, Leo!" Mikey explained. Leo felt worry begin to build in the pit of his stomach. He had been seen by his brothers when he was out! What if they had come after him? He would have had to fight them! Shredder must have planned that to happen.

"Yes I did!" Leo said hesitantly, "I couldn't sleep so I went out for a walk then this guy came from around the corner and attacked me. I managed to beat him but he got away by slicing my hand with one of my swords," He lied. Trying not to let any guilt show on his face.

Luckily, his brothers seemed to believe him. "Awww I can't believe I missed out on the action, I have been bored for weeks in this _stinken _sewer!" Raphael whined, bashing his fist down on the table. Mikey nodded in agreement.

"I know, dude! It has been pretty slow these last few weeks!" Mikey agreed, before streaching his arms high into the air and letting out a yawn. "Anyways, I am going back to bed! Night bros!" The orange-clad turtle called, before vanishing into his room.

"I'm going back to bed too, I am really tired thanks to braniac!" Raph said soon after, before he too vanished from sight.

For the next hour, Donatello busily tended to Leo's hand. He cleaned it, sprayed it with infection spray and bandaged it gently before they both went to their rooms.

As Leonardo laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, he realised just how difficult and heart wrenching completing these crimes was going to be. If he felt this guilty and came so close to being caught this time! What was going to be the outcome for the next crime? He just hoped with all his heart, that the crimes were going to get easier now. They had to!... they just had to...


	8. Nightmares

**This chapter is kinda an uneventful chapter, but I don't want to skip straight into Crime Number 2. However, there are some important bits in here so I hope you like it anyways.**

**Thanks guys for all the support and if you can think of a way I can improve, let me know**

Leonardo opened his blue eyes slowly, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep once more. He was normally a morning person (he had to if he wanted to train each morning) but today he just wanted the world to vanish from around him. Taking his guilt with it. He lay there for a few more moments, enjoying the luxury of peace before forcing his eyes open, but he was not expecting what he saw.

The room that surrounded him was not that of his well-kept bedroom, but the main room of the Foot headquarters. What was he doing here? _How_ did he get here? He must be dreaming. Yet, despite this realisation, he didn't wake.

It took him a second to realise it, but The Shredder was grinning evilly at him from the corner of the room. His smug look sending chills down his spine. Now he was really confused! He tried to turn and face him but he couldn't, his dream body wanting him to stay stock still and that is what he was forced to do. Instead, he tilted his head to the left (away from the Shredder) which he was surprisingly able to do, and glanced at the other figures inside the room.

There were seven other figures besides Shredder, two of which he recognised as humans, and the other five clearly not. They were his brothers, Splinter, April and Casey. Leonardo tried to call out to them but his mouth remained in a grim line, expressionless. It was then that the dream Mikey mouthed to Donnie with a look of confusion on his face, "What is he doing?"

The blue-clad turtle's dream body forced him to reach back and grab his two swords from his sheath and arrange them so they crossed in the shape of an 'x' in front of him.

There was a flash of black for a second and he blinked as the scene around him changed. When the darkness cleared, he was standing over Mikey who lay with his back to the floor. Leonardo's swords were now raised high in the air above him, which the blue turtle held in clenched fists. The look on Mikey's face was that of bitter fear and horror. "Leo, please!" He pleaded, tears beginning to fill his eye lids.

Leo's eyes widened in shock at the scene and he tried desperately to wake up, or at least to stop his uncharacteristic actions; but he couldn't. His dream body was stronger than he was and he was unable to fight it, he didn't seem to be able to wake either. He tried to scream at his brother to move, to warn him about how helpless he was against his body, but his closed mouth silenced his cries.

His dream body forced his arms a little higher into the air. "Nighty night, little brother," he said twistedly, unable to stop the words escaping his lips before plunging the sword down. As it zoomed towards his baby brother, the orange turtles scream filled his ears and Leonardo forced his eyes shut, unable to watch the scene unfold in front of him...

X-X-X

"Mikey!" The leader screeched as he awoke from his horrendous nightmare, sitting bolt upright in bed. The blue turtles breathing was slow and deep, his shaking resembled a dog with no coat left outside during winter and his whole body was drenched in sweat. "Mikey..." he repeated, barely a whisper this time.

In his life, Leonardo has had his fair share of nightmares. Same with his other brothers. But this was the worst dream his mind could have possibly conjured up. It was one thing if the victim was Raphael or Donatello, but Mikey? It wasn't that Leonardo didn't care for his other two brothers, he did, but Mikey was the youngest and the one he felt most responsible for. His baby brother. The fact that in the dream he had killed him, defying everything he felt responsible to prevent, was something to worry about. What if the dream was a message somehow? I warning of future events?...

Light had began to flood through the sewer drain that was visible from the top of his wall, indicating the morning had arrived. Maybe he could go for some morning training on the rooftops to help clear his mind? He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and immediately winced in pain at his still sore hand. He had forgotten about that.

The turtle realised then, that committing the later crimes would be a lot harder with this injured hand. Donatello had done a good job tending to it, but it didn't really rid him of the pain. Just stopped infection.

The blue clad turtle attempted to get up again, this time resting his weight on his non-injured hand (which was his right) instead of them both. It took him a moment or two, but he managed to get to his feet. When he had done this, he picked his swords up off the table besides his bed and walked out of his room. Heading towards the lair.

When he got there, he noticed that he was the only one up. The whole room was empty and the sound of sewer water flowing down the pipes outside the lair was the only noise that hit his sensitive ears. The turtle, knowing he shouldn't go out with his injured hand untill the nighttime when he had to commit the crimes Shredder had set for him, decided to train inside the lair instead. At least if his brothers awoke, he wouldn't get too bad a lecture from Don on safety.

Leonardo unsheathed his swords and stared at the blades in front of him. He used to love those swords... _Used to. _Now, he just saw them as a pawn he had used when he had played criminal. That, and the left blade was pretty bloody now (due to him accidentally stabbing himself with it) and the blood seemed to take the purity of the weapon away. Much like how _his_ purity in the fight against good and evil had become bloody, except with guilt and not blood.

He let out a unvoluntary shudder. Why must everything remind him of what he had done? If he sees his brothers, he remembers how Shredder threatened them. If he sees a sword, he remembers how he stabbed himself. If he sees a bed, he remembered the nightmare that he was trying so desperately to forget. Everything he looked at reminded him of his guilt and his betrayal to his brothers.

He sighed, how on earth was he going to survive a day with his brothers if he couldn't forget his agonizing guilt? One thing was certain, it was not going to be easy.


	9. Differences In The Brothers

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**Know how I could improve? let me know.**

The sound of wood against fist echoed around the room, ending the silence that the room would otherwise possess.

Leonardo punched the wooden practice dummy with practiced precision and skill, never missing as it sprung ungracefully away from him at every punch.

The dummy resembled a human and it was made from smooth, iron wood made from the bark of the iron wood tree in China. Splinter had given the dummy to the group for their sixteenth birthday as a replacement for the punching bag which Raph kept destroying. Although it did serve it's purpose well, his brothers prefered the punching bag as it was less painful to hit. Leo, however, prefered the dummy.

Leonardo continued to hit the dummy, his speed increasing rapidly as more time passed. Tiredness never showing. It was more difficult to fight the dummy one-handed but he needed to take his frustration and guilt out on something.

The immense pain he felt in his fist from punching the wood so hard weakened his pace slightly, though despite the pain, he didn't stop. If anything he just felt the need to punch even harder, like the pain was a comfort to the turtle. Maybe it was. However, the leader of the turtles believed it was his mind trying to forget his nightmare...

Before his mind could wander back to the dream, Leo stopped himself thinking further. Leonardo knew that pain, emotional pain, would only follow if he went too deep into this thought. Pain so great he may not be able to hide it. So he shut off his mind from the dream. Though he knew he wouldn't totally be relieved untill he saw Mikey.

Blood was beginning to splutter out of the scratches on his fingers that were caused by punching the dummy with such force. Iron wood was known for being painful to punch if you do it for too long and Leo had done just that. Though he didn't really care, he decided to stop. _'Donnie will kill me if he finds me training'_ He thought. It also wasn't really helping with his emotions anyway.

Dropping his hands to his sides, he walked over to the kitchen and grabbed his mug out of the cupboard, with the intention to make himself a cup of herbal tea. As he grabbed his cup, he found himself glancing at his brothers mugs. Donatello had a spotlessly clean, dark purple mug with various equations in different colors covering the surface, Mikey's mug had a large _Superman _badge on it, with a dark blue background and other superheroes drawn on with a black marker while Raph's mug had the letters 'WWF' written in bold on a black background. Leo's mug was different also, it was baby blue with a picture of the family stuck on with some sellitape.

Something about the large differences in the mugs made him think about how different they all were - His brothers he meant - How much their personalities altered from one another. Take himself and Donnie, for example. Donnie was a tech genius and could do things on a computer that Leo didn't even think was possible. He was also a qualified doctor, a talented fighter and was the encyclopedia of knowledge of the family. Leo however, though he did have some qualities Donnie had like being able to fight, he was very different from the purple clad turtle. One thing being that Leo was a leader, not a geek. He couldn't get past firewalls in ten seconds flat but he could come up with a plan in that time. Leo couldn't build machines from scrap metal but he could use it to get himself and his brothers out of a tricky spot.

Little things like these is what made the brothers so different from each other.

Leonardo's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the lair, followed by yelling. "I am going to kill ya', Mikey!" Raph's voice rang into the air, Mikey's laughter followed suit. "What's the matter, Raphie boy? Feeling a little cold?" Mikey mocked. A wave of relief washed over Leo at the sound of his beloved brothers voice and he felt as if the worlds weight had been taken off his shoulders.

Leonardo set down his empty mug on the countertop and walked out of the kitchen and into the lair where his two younger brothers stood**. **But the minute he saw Raph, he had to bite back a laugh. He was drenched in water! Especially his mask and you could almost see the steam shooting out of his ears. Mikey must've decided to tip water on him to make up for yesterday.

"That's it!" Raphael launched himself at the turtle, grabbing his body in his tight grasp before tackling him to the floor. Mike screaming like a girl during the whole thing. The second they hit the floor, Raph rested his knee on his stomach, causing the young turtle to struggle with breathing.

"Whats the matter, Mikey?" Raph snickered as Mikey squirmed.

"Get off!"

"No."

"Aww c'mon Raph, it was only a joke."

"A joke! Yeah your right, it was hilarious wasn't it?" Mikey raised a brow at his red-clad brother, seeming taken aback. "So funny, why don't I tip som water on you to see how you like it? Or better yet, your comic books..." Raph tapped his chin in fake thought. Mikey's eyes widened to the size of golf balls.

"No not my comic-books! Fine I am sorry, do whatever you want to me, but please, don't hurt my babies," Mikey pleaded. It was then Donatello entered the lair from his room, his expression showing annoyance and frustration.

"Raph!" The brainiac called warningly.

"What!? He started it!" Raph argued.

The purple-clad turtle sighed, pinching the area of his face where a human would have a nose. "Sixteen... sixteen years old and they still act like their three," Donatello muttered under his breath. Leo had to laugh. Like he had thought, they were the exact opposite to each other.

Mikey heard the leader's soft laughter and tilted his head to meet him, the second their eyes made contact, the look Mikey had given him when he died flashed before his eyes; ending the momentary happiness and lack of guilt he had felt. The flashback was only for a split second, but it was long enough for him to feel shaken and overwhelmed with guilt.

Mikey, though he did notice Leo's glance faltering slightly, he didn't notice the flash of pain that now swum in the pools of his eyes. So, he said nothing on the matter. "Hayy Leo!" He greeted happily, stopping squirming to greet his brother. Leo gave a simple wave of his hand and a forced smile in return.

"How's you hand?" Donnie asked, concern dripping from his voice.

"Fine thanks, Don."

"Good..." Donatello sensed his brother was in a pretty guilty state of mind. The last time he had sensed it this stong was just after the spaceship incident when Leo had become very angry with himself and went a bit mad when it came to training. Though he didn't seem very angry or anything, he just looked sad. Was this something to do with last night?

"Good morning, my sons," Splinter's voice echoed around the room, ending the awkward silence that had fallen upon the brothers.

"Morning, Master Splinter," The four turtles replied in union, bowing as they turned to face him. The rat smiled warmly at his students. "Are you ready for morning meditation, my sons?"

A groan escaped Mikey's and Raph's lips. They both hated mediation with a passion, mainly because they didn't see the point in it. They just wanted to fight. Nevertheless, they still walked over to the Master Splinter who had just sat down in the lotus position.

Mikey reached Splinter's side first and sat down on the farthest mat to the right, Donatello sat next to him, Raph sat next to Donnie and Leo sat on the farthest mat to the left so the four turtles were formed into a semi-circle in front of their sensei.

"Okay my sons. I want you to relax your body and mind and focus your energies. The eternal energy. Chi." Splinter requested, closing his eyes with the turtles following his lead.

Leonardo closed his eyes slowly and relaxed his body and mind like Splinter had asked, before slipping into a mediated state. However, this meditation was not going to be relaxing like mediation was supposed to be, in fact, it was going to be far from it...

**Okay this chapter dealt a little more on Leo's guilt and I tried to make it feel more lighthearted than the other chapters (at least during the middle) The next crime should begin to take place next chapter, or the chapter after that.**


	10. Crime Number Two Part 1

**Wow, so may followers/favourties/reviews. You guys are awesome**

Leonardo ran across the buildings of New York for the second time that week, stopping only to pick up his disguise before continuing his approach to the old apartment buildings. His mask tails whipped around in the wind and he flicked them carelessly out of his face.

He couldn't believe he was doing this again, especially considering how much his guilt had wracked his mind these last few days, however, he had no choice. He was going to save his brothers no matter the cost. Even if his honour and his own life was at stake he would keep up with these crimes. No matter how much it would kill him inside.

The wind whipped angrily at his reptilian skin, making his skin red in the cold. It felt to the turtle that even the wind didn't like him anymore.

Leonardo had slipped out of the lair while the others had mediated, unknowing that Splinter had seen him leave. His thoughts had been too troubled for him to relax enough to mediate and Leo feared that the others might have sensed it. Although his aura had disturbed his brothers, they didn't wake. It was only Splinter who had awoken.

Once Leonardo reached the apartment buildings, he was surprised to realise that he wasn't alone...

Nine foot ninjas, clad in their usual Foot attire, also stood on the roof. Discussing random things like video games and the mission between them. One of them was even talking about cooking, weirdly enough. It took a moment for Leonardo to realise what was going on but something soon clicked inside his head... Shredder had said in his letter to him before the first crime that he may assign him a group of ninjas to aid him in the crime. That would explain a lot.

Leo hopped onto the roof and soon, all eyes were on him. He glared back at them all. "So you finally show up," A foot ninja stated with a snobby tone as he walked over to him. Leonardo guessed he was the leader of the small group judging from the way he acted. "About time. Shredder has had us waiting for you for ten minutes."

"I am on time," Leonardo countered. He hated snobby people, he just wanted to punch them and the fact that this person was a foot ninja (whom he hated) didn't help matters. Leo clenched his fists inside his hoodie pockets. "You were early."

"What is the matter with you?" He asked, his voice raising slightly. "Okay then, smart ass, if you want to be cocky then we can fight if you want." He rested his hands on his katana handles.

Leo barely blinked at the threat. "No thanks, I don't want to waste my time fighting a petty Foot Ninja who is so stupid as to join the Shredder."

"What did you call me?" The ninja unsheathed his katanas. "You joined the Shredder to you know!"

"To save my brothers, you have no excuse." The ninja hissed at him and was about to leap forward to attack the turtle when another ninja rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't bother," He muttered in a bored tone. "He will whoop your ass. Just tell him the plan and then we can get this over with." The snobby ninja glared at his comrade before sighing. "Fine." He turned to Leonardo. "We are planning to rob an electronics shop. Shredder assigned as to help you, that is all you really need to know. Anyway we are going in a minute. Make sure you are ready."

Leonardo unsheathed his katanas at that and soon, the group headed off towards the electronics shop. Leonardo hung back towards the back of the group as he followed the ninjas in silence. What would this crime entail for him? Leo was unsure. Judging from what the ninja had said it didn't sound too bad. However, the first crime hadn't sounded exactly terrible either and that had been his worst nightmare. Leo guessed this would be worse than the first crime due to the amount of ninjas he'd been assigned.

Leonardo then wondered what exactly Shredder wanted all these parts for. He also wondered what he wanted with that part he had stolen from the factory. They weren't exactly very common parts which you would use every day. What did he want them for? The turtle wondered if Shredder was building something perhaps. That would explain a lot. But what?

The blue-clad turtle came to an abrupt stop as the ninjas stopped and he realised they were now in front of the shop. The snobby ninja reached into his belt and pulled free a single grenade. The mutant ninja felt his eyes widen. He was going to blow up the whole shop? What if there were people in there.

"Oh," The ninja who had stopped the snobby ninja earlier spoke up. Leo took a guess that he was possible second in command. "Don't you think that we should let our guest throw it." The snobby ninja glared at his group member.

"Do you insist on taking away all the fun off this mission from me," The other ninja gave him a look. The leader sighed. "Fine, fine." The snobby ninja turned to Leo and he felt his heart stop. He tossed him the grenade. Leo looked at it in shock.

"What do you want to me to do with this?"

"Throw it, you dumb ass." Leonardo gulped. He knew that there could be innocent people in that building, hopefully not, but there could be. He could see a small flat above the shop so he knew it was likely that there were. If he were to throw the grenade, it would kill them but if he didn't, his brothers would die. It was a horribly unfair choice and in Leo's mind, there could only be one answer.

He had to throw the grenade. To save his brothers.


	11. Crime Number Two Part 2

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**This chapter is a bit sad so beware**

Leo stared at the grenade in his hand, feeling at a loss of what to do. He had already decided he was going to throw it, to save his brothers, but he couldn't. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Everytime he even thought of doing it, he would shudder and guilt would work its way around his heart, stabbing him as the thoughts appeared in his mind.

It wouldn't be so bad if the people who would die from the grenade were criminals. Leo would still feel horrendously guilty but these people were innocent. Pure innocents. There was no reason for them to die like this, so cruelly, so unfairly...

Leo had to do something!

Biting his lip, he ran ideas through his mind, trying to find one that would help his current situation; but all his ideas were either too risky, too unrealistic, too mad and some just plain foolish. The turtle's blinding panic wasn't really helping him think either.

The snobby ninja looked over at his as if he was dull, "What are you doing? Throw it already!" _Oh shell, oh shell, oh shell!_

Leonardo gulped as he knees started to weaken and he started to shake, making him feel uneasy. What was he going to do now? Looks like he just going to have to persuade them out of it... Wait! There's and idea. "Why throw a grenade?" Leonardo asked, trying to make himself sound confident. He forced an evil smirk onto his face. "Why don't you just sabotage the place? That would cause a lot more chaos around here. It could also help strengthen yours and the Shredders' respect from your rival street gangs. Afterall, I bet they will be put off bothering you after knowing what you could do to them. I know I would be."

Leonardo drew in a breath as he watched the ninja tap his chin in thought, debating the next plan of action. Leonardo was aware that even if the ninja did agree to sabotaging the shop, then there was no guarantee the family would survive. Especially if one of the Foot went upstairs or the family tried to stop them. However, there was more chance of living from some Foot members sabotaging your store than of a grenade going off in your living room. He was just going to have to risk it.

There was a moment when Leo thought the ninja was going to refuse the suggestion so the turtle quickly added, "You could also grab some of the other equipment in the store while you're doing it. I think that should help you out in the long run."

The snobby ninja narrowed his eyes at the turtle and Leo felt his heart stop, his fake confidence vanishing from his face. "Not a bad idea, turtle!" The ninja praised, taking the grenade from the terrapin's fingers. "The Foot living room does need a new TV!"

When the ninja turned away, the turtle let out a gasp of relief. Thank _GOD _for that.

The gruff ninja unsheathed his katana and raised it above his head, being careful to keep it steady. He didn't look very comfortable with the weapon, in Leo's opinion, he seemed more like a bo staff type of person. Leo guessed this was because the Shredder uses the katana, so could have made it compulsory for his followers to also have katanas. The turtle also realised, that could be the one thing that stops the Foot clan from reaching their full potential as the only common followers (Like the Purple Dragons or the normal Foot Ninjas) that are a huge threat to the turtles are the ones who don't use katanas like the Elite Ninjas.

The gruff ninja rested his eyes on the glass surface, aiming for the middle, before stabbing the sword into the window with expert precision and skill, managing to wedge his sword into one of the thinnest cracks in the window. That shut Leo up. Even if the ninja wasn't comfortable with the katana, he was sure damn good at using it.

The glass shattered into millions of tiny bits and the ninja backflipped out-of-the-way of the shards, landing right in front of Leo. Leo felt his jaw drop. When he normally fought the Foot Ninjas, he doesn't really notice how skilled they actually are. But that was really cool. They could even surpass him in levels of skill and precision and Leo, though he was a very modest being, knew he was pretty good in both those aspects when it came to fighting.

Half of the ninjas ran inside of the building, while another half, stayed outside. Keeping watch for any passing cops. Leo was in the group who rushed inside.

The ninjas destroyed most things that were inside the store, from IPOD's to washing machines to 3D glasses. Nothing was left untouched by the ninjas and anything they thought looked cool or they wanted, they took with them. It wasn't long before the place was trashed by bits of broken screens and upside down refrigerators and the place soon started to clear as the ninjas began to leave, contented by what they had achieved or earned.

Leonardo watched all of this with guilt glowing inside his mind. Never leaving him. He just hoped that no members of the family came downstairs to see what was going on. Who knows what would happen if they did.

At first, it seemed that Leo was going to get his wish as none of the family showed their faces, much to the turtle's relief. However, this is Leo! Bad things always happen to Leo...

The final ninjas, buzzing with an adrenalin rush from stealing, were about to leave the shop; Leonardo being one of the last. It seemed that things were going to go smoothly and Leo actually started to relax a little, when one of the ninjas voices echoed around the room, sending chills down his spine as he said the words Leo dreaded to hear. "Guys, there is a someone here!"

Sure enough, there was a young man crouched behind a foldout table in the corner of the room. He looked around twenty years old, with sand-colored hair and large brown eyes. His eyes widened in terror at the realization he had been caught and sweat was visibly drizzling down his pale skin.

The snobby ninja was furious. "A witness!" The ninja announced, walking over to the other ninja. The twenty year old seemed to shrink in his boots.

"Please, please don't hurt me!" He pleaded, tears welling up in his eyes. Leonardo also felt panic rise within him, but he knew he couldn't stop what he knew was going to happen next, and this killed him. Why must he be stopped from helping people just to protect his family? Why must it be him?...

"Oh don't worry," The snobby ninja laughed, unsheathing his katana. "This won't hurt a bit!"

Leonardo widened in grief and horror as the ninja quickly sliced the man's chest, blood tinting his sword red. The man's eyes widened in shock as the lights in his eyes began to dim. Leo couldn't take it anymore and rushed forward, kneeling besides the bleeding man. The terrapin knew the man was going to die. There was no saving him now, but at least he could comfort the man with his presence before he left the world.

The man looked over at him, his eyes showing so much sadness. The look made the turtle's hair on his neck, pickle and he closed his eyes. "W-Why d-d-didn't y-you h-help m-me?" The man stuttered as he drew in raspy breaths, trying to force air inside his lungs.

Leonardo felt tears prick his eyes, "I am sorry..." The turtle whispered. The other Foot ninjas had now turned on their heels and were leaving the store, their goods in hand. "I couldn't have done more-"

The man gave Leo a weak glare, "-Y-you watched them k-kill me. Y-you could h-have d-d-done s-s-something. Y-you... y-you..." The man's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body fell limp on the floor and for the first time in a long while, Leo started to cry.

**Bit dark isn't it?**

**Know how I could improve? Let me know**


	12. Suspicions Arise

He couldn't believe himself! He couldn't believe his actions! He couldn't believe he didn't do anything to help that innocent man... that kind, innocent man.

Leo knew he was kind because of his eyes. A wise man once said that the eyes are the entrance to that person's soul and Leo believed that wholeheartedly as even when the man blamed him for his premature death, his eyes let out an aura of kindness. That is what made it all the worse for the turtle. If he had been someone bad it wouldn't be so much of a tragedy to the terrapin. But he had been good and this made his guilt multiply even further.

The guilt that the blue-clad turtle had kept hidden was now so high, the turtle felt like he was going to burst from all the emotion. When the man had died in the factory, he had broken down momentarily and had fallen into a fit of tears. The turtle now feared that he may be starting to reach his breaking point. But he couldn't be. If he did break down, his brothers would be the first people to ask him about it and you can't exactly say 'nothing' when you are hysterically crying.

Leo continued to his room; fear, guilt and heart-break causing him to flop onto his bed. He just wanted to sleep... to escape from this nightmare for a few moments... to relax... With these thoughts, darkness began to swirl around him and he slipped into the unknown place which was his mind.

X-X-X

The three turtles and the elderly rat watched the unconscious form of the blue turtle with confusion, unable to understand what was going on.

When the turtle in blue had left the lair to commit the crime (unknown to them) Splinter had managed to wake from his mediated stance in time to see him leave. After he was sure the turtle wasn't going to be back, he had awoken the three younger turtles from their meditation. On their father's orders, the three turtles had spent all afternoon searching for their elder brother but to no avail. When they had returned home a matter of minutes ago, they were surprised to see Leo lying on his bed in his room like nothing had happened.

"Well tha' was a total waste of time," Raph muttered darkly, crossing his arms. Donnie raised an eye ridge as he quietly closed the door behind him.

"Peculiar," Splinter murmured, tapping his chin.

"Are you sure he even left, Master?" Donnie asked uncertainly. When he saw Splinter's offended look, he quickly added, "Maybe your age is making you imagine things?"

Splinter was a very, very old rat now. Nearly eighty-seven years old. So, it wouldn't be an odd occurence for him to see things that weren't actually there or forget certain things. However, this nearly never happened to the rat and when it did, Splinter was never as sure as he had been with Leonardo.

Splinter shook his head in disagreement towards the genius, "No!" He said, confidence and certainty seeping into his tone. "I am sure he left, my son. You must trust me on this!" Donnie nodded his head curtly in response. He trusted his father more than anything, and knew that when he was sure on something, he was sure. There was now no doubt in Donatello's mind that what his father spoke was the truth, but it left him confused. Where had his brother gone?

It was Mikey who voiced this question in the end and it was met with an awkward silence. The mutants all glanced at each other, daring the other to speak or answer but no one was willing. A lot of time passed before Mikey spoke up again, ending this prolonged silence. "Seriously, not one of you dudes have any idea?" Everyone shook their heads.

Splinter bit his lip. "My sons, there is one thing I need you to understand about this situation. I may not have any knowledge about where Leonardo had gone to or why he didn't tell us, but I sense something is bothering him. His aura seems troubled to me and it is effecting his meditation, sleep and you could even say his sanity. Because of this, I feel great concern for him. What this is to do with I am not sure, but I must ask you, my sons, to keep a close eye on him and hopefully this will pass or whatever if troubling him will be revealed."

The three brothers eyes furrowed before nodding in union. This was a surprise to them (Mainly because they couldn't detect auras as well as their master) and hadn't really noticed their brother acting strangely. Except maybe the last night when Leo had sneaked out and had returned with a bloody hand...

"Do ya' think this has anythin' to do with the guy?" Raph asked suddenly.

"What do you mean? What guy?" Mikey replied, raising a brow.

"The hooded guy, Shell-for-brains" Raph repeated, sounding annoyed. "Ya' know the one who slashed his hand. Maybe this has something to do with him. Leo could have gone out looking for revenge!"

Donnie shook his head in disagreement. "I doubt that Raph, that sounds more like something you would do; but I have also been thinking the hooded figure could have something to do with this. After all, Leo did act weird when he came home yesterday. Maybe Leo isn't letting on everything he knows."

"Should we ask him about it?" Mikey piped in.

Splinter shook his head, "No, my son. That could cause him to become more troubled than he already is."

"Then what do we do?" Raph asked. The red-clad terrapin was starting to look agitated and seemed ready to confront his eldest brother about their many questions. The turtle hated not knowing things as when you don't _know_ anything, you can't _do _anything and he hated the sensation of being helpless. The turtle just wanted to know what was going on so he could go beat someone up and end his brothers apparent troubles.

Splinter noticed his son looking agitated and replied softly, "Wait."

"Wait?"

"Yes."

"But we can't just 'wait' here and let this continue on. I wan' answers!"

"We all do, Raph," Donnie stated.

"Your brother is right, Raphael. If you wish to find out Leonardo's troubles, then we must wait and hopefully, something will present itself. In the mean time, I think we should keep a close eye on Leonardo and see if he improves. If he doesn't, then we may have to take action."

**I tried to add more dialogue to this chapter as I have not written much in my other chapters. I also wanted Splinter to be in the spotlight a little for this chapter as he has had quite the small role so far **

**Hope you liked this chapter guys**


	13. Return Of The Nightmares

**This chapter was accidentally deleted so, its much shorter than it was. However, all the important stuff is still here. **

Donatello breathed heavy breaths as he gripped his bo staff tightly. His stance was that of defence. Leonardo felt his heart almost stop when he saw his brother preparing to fight him but the minute he tried to speak, he couldn't. Oh no. He must be dreaming. He was going to fight one of his brothers again.

Donatello spun his bo staff, looking reluctant to begin the fight. "Leo," He said. "Please, I don't want to fight you."

_'I don't want to fight you either,' _Leonardo thought as he took out his katana. He fought his body with all his might but he was aware that it was useless. His body was stronger than his mind. He was going to have to watch another brother die.

Donatello's and Leonardo's weapons met with a clash, sparks and splinters flew through the air. Leo was taken aback by his own sudden movement but before he could really register what he had done, the fight had already began.

The purple-clad turtle remained on the defence as Leo's body attempted to strike the turtle's body, constantly twirling his staff to block all the attacks. Thrusting his bo forward into Leonardo's chest, Donatello switched to an attack stance while Leonardo blocked the attacks. Leo trying to stop the fight the whole time.

Though nothing had happened yet, the leader turtle knew only too well what was going to happen in this dream. It was obvious. He was going to kill his younger brother and have no control over it. However, he didn't want to see a brother die again. Mikey's death had been bad enough. It would kill him inside to watch another brother die because of him even if it was a dream.

Leonardo's dream body kicked the younger reptile in the leg before he sliced him with the katana.

"AHHHH!" Donatello screamed in agony as the katana blade sliced open his arm, causing blood to drip onto the wooden flooring of the Foot Throne Room. Leonardo stood, flabbergasted and horrified by what he had done. He had nearly taken Donnie's arm off! Donatello looked up at him, tears rimming his eyes as he clutched his arm in agony. The turtle's skin turned ghastly pale as he dropped his staff onto the floor and fell onto his knees, into the puddle of blood his arm had made.

What had he done? On instinct, the blue-clad reptile immediately tried to apologise for his actions and to check over his brother. Yet, he couldn't. That is when he remembered his lack of control over his dream body... His dream body forced him to walk forwards.

The brainiac looked terrified! Of him. He had made his brother afraid of him. The younger turtle turned his body so he lay on his shell and tried to pull himself away from Leonardo with his free hand, his blood leaving a trail behind him. Leo wanted, more than anything, to just go up to his brother and hug him. To comfort him. To let him know that he was going to be fine.

The turtle was standing over Donnie in a matter of seconds and his body forced him to sheath one of his katanas and raise it in the air above the purple turtle, receiving a look of horror in return. Donnie glanced over at the helpless Leonardo with pleading eyes.

Please..." Donnie croaked out, his voice raspy. "Please Leo... don't do this..." That made him want to cry. His brother was begging him for mercy, yet, he was still going to kill him. Leo had to stop this.

Using ever inch of his strength, Leo fought his strong body with powerful determination. Refusing to move. Refusing to strike his brother. But his body was stronger and without even the slightest bit of hesitation, Leo plunged the sword down. Donnie's wide eyes staring at him in horror and betrayal as it spiralled towards his chest...


	14. Betrayal Is My Fear

**70 reviews... 70 REVIEWS! Oh my god. THANK YOU!**

**Before I begin this chapter, I would like to thank The Dragon's Scribe for the advice on fight scenes, I am going to need it as there are more fight scenes to come later in the story.**

**This is a very, VERY uneventful chapter (the most that happens is that Leo moves a little) but I hope you like it anyways as thought chapters are always uneventful.**

Leonardo awoke with a start, panting and heaving raspy breaths as he sat upright. Leonardo sighed in relief when he realised he was back in the safe place that was his room, but his fast-beating heart continued to pound rapidly against his ribs; making him feel sick from the adrenalin he felt throughout his body.

"It was just a dream, it was just a dream..." The turtle gasped out quietly, trying to calm himself despite knowing this was pointless. Hot tears pricked the corners of his eyes as he brought his knees up to his chest, freeing himself from the sweat covered blanket, and hugged them tightly; resting his chin on his kneepads.

How long were these dreams going to go on? He had already had to live through Mikey's supposed death, but now Donnie? Who's next? Raph, Master Splinter, April, Casey? Why did his mind insist on torturing him? In his sleep? It was bad enough his mind tortured him while he was awake by using his blazing guilt against him, but when he was asleep was the only time he could forget all this guilt and stress and just relax. Now his mind was taking this away from him. There was no escape from all the stress he felt.

Leo shifted his chin off his kneepads and instead, rested his forehead against his quadriceps. Feeling more tears begin to fill his eyelids.

He never expected that when he took up the job of being a criminal, that he would suffer this much. He knew he would suffer, there was no doubt in his mind on that matter, but not this much; and he knew when he took up the job of being a criminal that life would feel like torture. Emphasis on the word _feel. _Bit this didn't _feel _like torture at all... it _was_ torture. Everything, even sleep, was endless, painful torture. Life had lost its happiness in his mind now, it was so painful to live.

That wasn't the only thing the reptile didn't expect. The turtle never expected that lying to his brothers would have such a guilt-ridden effect on him though he knew that lying to them would be very guilt filled, he never expected he would watch a man die before his very eyes when he could have saved him, he never expected to have dreams in which he would kill his brothers...

That thought brought Leo's mind back to the dream. Though he thought that watching Mikey's death would be more heartbreaking, Donnie's had been just as bad in his mind. Maybe even worse and Leo was certain he knew the reason too...

It was the look Donnie given him before he died.

There was at least one thing about his brothers that he had learned to recognise to know how they felt. With Raph, it was how tense his body was. If he was tense, he was angry or sad. Normally angry though. And if he wasn't he was either happy or calm. With Mikey, it was straight out his expression. Michelangelo was not the best at hiding his emotions, so he was pretty easy to read to the blue turtle. Donatello, however, was his eyes.

Donnie's eyes had a strange feeling to them, a piercing quality almost. Donnie was good at hiding his emotions and was rarely tense, so Leo couldn't read him that way. His eyes however, held every emotion that the brainiac felt. Hatred, love, happiness, sadness, defeat... every emotion he could feel all revealed in the pools of his brown eyes and those same eyes are what made his death so horrific to Leonardo, as his eyes showed that he felt betrayed. Felt betrayed by his own brother. The worst part? Leonardo knew he had betrayed him. Betrayed all his brothers in fact. He had betrayed them by joining Shredder.

Leo felt a sob work its way out of his lips as he shut his eyes tightly, a small tear starting to drizzle down his cheek. Besides watching his family die, having his family feel betrayed was his biggest fear as he should be the last person out of all his brothers to betray the family; with him being the leader and the eldest. So, the reason Donnie's death was so horrific in his mind (maybe even more horrific than Mikey's) was not because of the fight or Leo slashing open his arm, it was that Don had felt his brother had betrayed him. Something he feared with a passion.

That was the major difference between the two youngest brothers deaths as in both dreams, both brothers had begged him not to kill them and both times, he had been unable to. He had stabbed them both in the chest and he they had both given him a look of horror. But it was the betrayal in Donnie's eyes that sent him over the edge in guilt and depression. Mainly because he knew that the brainiac had every right to feel betrayed.

Leo roughly wiped the tear away from his cheek and sniffed before releasing his legs and resting his head on his pillow. Swallowing the bile he felt in his throat. He knew chances of getting any more sleep were pretty thin, yet he knew he had to try.

Closing his eyes, he murmured apologies under his breath to his brothers for what he had done, before slipping back into his dark thoughts.


	15. Insanity

**Here is another slightly late chapter for you.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

**The _italics _are what Leo sees**

**Thank you to all my reviewers**

Leonardo slowly turned his spoon around the bowl, staring dully at the small pieces of corn flakes that moved in the flow of the milk.

Leo pulled on the bottom of his mask and yanked the piece of cloth further over the bags that rested beneath his sea-blue eyes. Trying his best to hide them. He had been right when he suspected he wouldn't get back to sleep the night before, but now tiredness was taking its toll on him. Making it difficult for him to even keep his eyes open.

The guilt about murdering two brothers (in his dreams) along with the guilt about the crimes, leaving the innocent man for death and working for the Shredder was proceeding to rack his mind to the point, where every thought his mind conjured up normally lead him to think about one of these guilt-ridden subjects. Even now, as he stirred his cereal, his mind was elsewhere, thinking about all the things he had done wrong. He was starting to think that he may not be able to hide it anymore. That and his tiredness. He was sure that his brothers would notice one of them soon enough.

The blue-clad turtle, despite his tiredness, could sense everyone's eyes were on him; trailing his every movement as he continued to stir his cereal, though he ignored their concerned glances. He doubted they knew how tired he was, but he wondered if their concern came from last night. It must have been a surprise to wake from their mediation to find him missing, although, to the best of his knowledge, they had been in bed when he had gotten home. They must have thought he had gone to bed or something.

What the turtle didn't know, however, was that his brothers had spent a large portion of the night searching New York for him. Panic fueling their actions. He also didn't know that his brothers were now planning to keep watch over him, possibly ruining the chance to commit the crime tonight. But like said, he didn't know.

Donnie, while Leo was lost in his usual dark thoughts, inspected his face closely, searching for any signs of cuts or bruises. He wasn't a medic. Though he was technically the doctor of the family as he knew the most about health. He knew how to heal broken bones and basic injuries but he was more of a mechanic than a doctor. However, he searched the elder turtle for any injury that he knew of. But of course, he found nothing. However, Donatello sensed the elder turtle was tired. He guessed that from the way the turtle kept yanking at his mask.

An awkward silence fell upon the mutants as everyone's eyes continued to trail Leo. In the end, Leo couldn't take their glances anymore and spoke up. "Have I got something on my face?" He asked grumpily. He didn't feel particularly grumpy. It was just his tiredness.

Everyone snapped out of their stares and immediately, Mikey stammered out. "N-no!"

"Then why are you all staring at me?" Leo asked, sounding slightly frustrated as he rested the side of his head in his palm. Allowing his eyes to close for a few moments before opening them again.

"We're not," Donnie piped in quickly, his elder brothers tone causing some concern to him.

"Yes you are! I can see you!"

"Ghee sumin' is in a bad mood today!" Raph muttered, loud enough for the blue turtle to hear.

"Sorry..." Leo murmured, before continuing to stir his cereal.

The family exchanged worried glances. Leo was never this grumpy in the mornings. He was quite the morning person actually. He would also never apologise to Raph's insult so easily, so this caused some concern. Though, they resisted the urge to question the blue reptile. Instead, they decided to follow Splinter's orders from the night before and await untill he become noticeably more troubled. After all, everyone had their bad days. However, Leo quickly became worse as the hours passed...

X-X-X

Leo prepared his twin swords as he faced his brother, the blades glimmering beneath the lair lights. Donatello twirled his bo staff with amazing speed as he also turned to face the elder turtle, his face filled with determination as he prepared to fight.

"Are you ready, my sons?" Splinter asked, standing in between the two turtles as they circled the mat. Both brothers nodded simultaneously. "Okay, you may begin."

The two weapons made contact the moment he stopped talking, resulting in splinters flying everywhere. Both weapons pulled apart before they crashed together again, this time near the turtles' feet. They continued to fight, more splinters and sparks flying off the weapons as they tried to strike their opponent. Leo was quick. Quickly blocking any attack Donnie threw at him, even despite his tiredness. So was Donnie. Strong on the defence.

Leo suddenly hesitated in his actions as the weapons pulled apart, his mind blocking his better instincts as panic started to wash over him. This was just like the dream. What if his dream was a warning? Quick, raspy breaths escaped his lips, indicating his panic. He couldn't kill Donnie! No! He wouldn't! He refused.

He seemed to forget that this was reality and not a dream and that he was in control of his actions. As well as the fight was very different from the one in the dream. The reptile's stressed mind helped with that. All his dark thoughts were causing his mind to fall into insanity. His lies causing his mind to fall further. His tiredness trapping it there. His mind caused situations before his eyes to become much different to how they actually were. To him, rather than a practice fight, he was fighting his geeky brother to the death. He was back inside the dream.

_"AHHHH!" Donatello screamed in agony as the katana blade sliced open his arm, causing blood to drip onto the wooden flooring of the Foot Throne Room. Leonardo stood, flabbergasted and horrified by what he had done. He had nearly taken Donnie's arm off!_

Leo dropped both katanas on the floor, his eyes wide and his panic continuing to build. Donnie raised a brow. "Leo?"

_Donatello looked up at him, tears rimming his eyes as he clutched his arm in agony. The turtle's skin turned ghastly pale as he dropped his staff onto the floor and fell onto his knees, into the puddle of blood his arm had made._

"Leo, what's the matter?"

_What had he done? On instinct, the blue-clad reptile immediately tried to apologise for his actions and to check over his brother. Yet, he couldn't. That is when he remembered his lack of control over his dream body..._

"Leo, are you alright?" Donnie yelled. Mikey and Raph, who had been engrossed in a fight, glanced over to the two brothers. Splinter, who had been spectating the two brothers fight, also looked over.

_The brainiac looked terrified! Of him. He had made his brother afraid of him. The younger turtle turned his body so he lay on his shell and tried to pull himself away from Leonardo with his free hand, his blood leaving a trail behind him. Leo wanted, more than anything, to just go up to his brother and hug him. To comfort him. To let him know that he was going to be fine._

"What's going on, Don?" Mikey asked.

Donnie's eyes showed pure terror, "He isn't repsonding!"

_The turtle was standing over Donnie in a matter of seconds and his body forced him to sheath one of his katanas and raise it in the air above the purple turtle, receiving a look of horror in return. Donnie glanced over at the helpless Leonardo with pleading eyes._

"Who isn't responding?"

"Leo!"

_"Please..." Donnie croaked out, his voice raspy. "Please Leo... don't do this..." That made him want to cry. His brother was begging him for mercy, yet, he was still going to kill him. Leo had to stop this..._

"My son?" Splinter said softly, placing a gentle hand on the eldest brother's shoulder. Leo flinched beneath his touch. His eyes unseeing. The eldest brother was shaking hysterically, his breaths ragged and raspy. He still didn't respond to his father as his eyes widened further.

"What is goin' on?" Raph demanded, anger flaring. The red turtle looked ready to hit whoever was causing this.

"I think he is seeing something we don't and it is scaring him," Splinter responded. Shaking the turtle's shoulder.

"Wait? Leo gets scared?"

"Shut up Mikey, not the time!" Donnie snapped.

_Using ever inch of his strength, Leo fought his strong body with powerful determination. Refusing to move. Refusing to strike his brother. But his body was stronger and without even the slightest bit of hesitation, Leo plunged the sword down. Donnie's wide eyes staring at him in horror and betrayal as it spiralled towards his chest..._

"Leonardo!"

Leonardo's eyes snapped up to Master Splinter as he stood there, shaking his shoulders. Images of Donnie's 'supposed' death still flashed before his eyes. His heart rate not slowing down even in the slightest.

"Leo?"

Leo could not take the stress anymore and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, before he fell backwards into Raphael's hands. Unconscious.

**Leo is now insane 0_0 **


	16. Behind The Mask

**This story is doing SOOO well. Thank you so much guys!**

**Not my best chapter but at least we are moving onto the crime.**

**I also tried to combine dialogue and thoughts in this chapter. **

**Let me know how I could improve please.**

"Is he alright?" Mikey asked worriedly as he peered down at the still form of his eldest brother. The blue-clad turtle lay motionless on the lab table with the mutants crowded around him as the waited impatiently for him to gain consciousness. Leonardo had given the turtle's quite the scare when he had stopped responding, and even more so when he had fallen unconscious. At that point, Donnie had estimated he would wake up in a few minutes and the three brothers had carried the reptile to the lab. However, those minutes felt much like hours to them.

"Are you blind?! Obviously 'e ain't alright?" Raph said sarcastically, crossing his arms. He did not look happy at all. His usual anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach like magma and threatened to explode upon the mutants. That was how he dealt with his problems. Using his anger. That is the reason he never showed any other emotion besides anger, frustration and happiness. Those emotions help him to deal with his problems and are the only emotions he would allow himself to have.

"Shut up Raph!" Mikey yelled at the hot-head, taking the red-clad reptile aback before he seemed to start brewing a comeback in his mind.

Donatello could sense the tension between the brothers so he quickly blurted out, "Leo is fine. He just had a bit of a fright. He will wake when he calms down," Donnie said calmly, smiling comfortingly at the younger brother. The latter smiled back.

However, despite his calm and comforting attitude, Donnie was far from stress-free. In reality, he was inches of being consumed by it. Donnie had always been the best at coping with stress, out of his brothers, and this lead him to being the master at coping with his other emotions. Have you ever seen Donnie cry? No. Have you seen him get angry? No, because he just copes so well with these emotions that they are never seen by any living being.

The cause for his stress now, was all that had happened the last few days since Leo had become 'troubled' as Master Splinter put it. It had to be him who Leo had fought when he had gone all _unresponsive_. It had to be him who had to treat every injury the leader had since he had become all stressed out, while being forced to not ask about it by his father. It had to be him who stopped his two brothers arguing over stupid things while his elder brother was unconscious. It HAD TO BE HIM! Why him?

"Hayy, I think Leo is waking up!" Mikey said suddenly, stopping the purple-clad terrapin dead in his thoughts. Sure enough. Leonardo eyes were starting to flutter...

X-X-X

"Hayy I think Leo is waking up!" The voice rang in the blue-clad reptiles ears, ending his loss of consciousness.

"Hayy Leo? Wake up!" another voice encouraged gruffly, before he felt a hand shove his shoulder. Leo knew those voices well. They belonged to his two brothers; Michelangelo and Raphael. Well... he didn't really need to hear the voice to know the second voice was Raph. The shove had been enough for Leo to know it was the hot-head.

"Raphael!" Splinter scolded, "Be gentle."

"Phhh your treatin' 'im like a baby," Raph commented under his breath before the room fell silent. The leader could sense everyone's eyes were on him, waiting for him to open his eyes. But he didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to go back into the darkness where he had been mere moments ago. At least there he could get some rest and not have to worry about nightmares.

Sighing inwardly, the leader's blue eyes fluttered open and he took in his surroundings. He was in the infirmary on the cold, metal lab table. His head was propped up by a single, white, worn pillow and his hand had been rebadged. He had almost forgotten about his hand! Maybe it was because it didn't hurt anymore, thanks to Donnie. Surrounding the table, were his three brothers and sensei, each with a look of relief and concern plastered onto their faces. '_What happened?' _Leo thought.

"Hi Leo," Donnie was the first to speak.

"Hi," Leo replied groggily, scratching the back of his head with his bandaged hand.

"Are you okay, my son?" Splinter asked softly, smiling at him. That just made him more confused.

"Yes, Master Splinter."

"Good."

Leonardo pondered for a few more moments on what had happened when he realised. He had fainted. That is when his heart began to beat faster. Wait?... had he attacked Donnie? He was sure he had, yet, the turtle seemed fine. His arm was fine too. Should he ask? Maybe he should...

_'No. Don't say a word_,' his conscience screamed at him, '_It will raise questions and you don't want them to touch on what you have done...' _That killed the idea almost instantly. But he comforted himself in the thought that the fight with Donnie had probably been his mind playing a cruel trick on him, which was actually true. Yet, his heart didn't seem to slow. Just the idea he had killed Donatello was enough to make panic consume him.

An awkward silence spread throughout the group as Leo began to revel in his worry and guilt. Guilt had become, almost, part of him these last sixty-two hours. It never left him. Even as he was consumed by it, he secretly hoped it would leave him.

He had come to the conclusion that it wasn't going to leave him just that morning. Not anytime soon anyways. It was too strong. It was too powerful over him to leave. However, that didn't kill the hope that it would just disappear. But when guilt and worry starts making you see things that aren't actually there, then doubt starts to take its toll and hope begins to vanish.

Leonardo glanced up at the clock on the wall _8:56 PM _Almost time for the newest crime.

Leo wasn't sure if he was insane, or just caring but he _still _was going to commit the crime. Another crime. The guilt and worry clung even more tightly to his heart than last time, but despite all his hidden feelings, he knew he had no choice. He had seemed to forget these last few hours that he was doing this for his family and his family alone. He wasn't doing this because he wished to be in business with the Shredder. He was doing it to protect his family.

For that simple reason, he knew he was going to further himself into madness and guilt...

"I am going out for some air,"


	17. On Your Tail

**This chapter was originally going to have his brothers going with Leo but it was too hard to write for and what I did write was too weak in my opinion.**

**Anyways, I hope you like this version anyways**

Leonardo ran across the many rooftops of New York alone for the third time that week, using the night as a cloak to hide his terrapin body. How he had convinced Master Splinter to allow him to go out after his little fainting act was a mystery to him. But after a little forced smiling and usage of his persuasion skills he had gotten his master to allow him. So he was back heading towards downtown Manhattan.

The images of Donatello's supposed death had stopped flashing before his eyes now, something he was grateful for, but his heart still beat at the same pace as it had half an hour ago. Fast.

Leo, like he had the past two times, started to wonder what the crime would entail this time. The first time had to break into a factory, the second had been to sabotage a store so what could the third crime entail? The blue-clad turtle wasn't sure but he had noticed a pattern in all this. In both crimes he had to steal something. The crow-bar type thingy and that CPU chip.

The terrapin feared that the Shredder was building something. Something sinister and deadly. Which he was contributing to by getting him the parts required. This lead to him to believe that this latest crime was going to have him steal something else for the Shredder, it wouldn't surprise him if it did. It made perfect sense. The Shredder had said to leave whatever he had gained from the crime on the roof, during his letter, something Leo had been to consumed by guilt to really think about. Shredder must be using him to get parts for something he was building. He was sure of it.

But just what was the Shredder building? It could be anything. A new weapon? A new machine? A new vehicle? The possibilities were endless. He could even be building a sofa for that matter. Whatever it was, Leonardo was the one helping to supply the parts.

The blue-clad terrapin hopped on one of the roofs with a skilled grace and stared at the pile of clothes at his feet. His crime clothes as he called them. He yanked them on roughly, ignoring the dried-blood stains on the right sleeve of his hoodie and secured the black painted hockey mask on his face. Once he was happy with his attire, he continued towards downtown, totally unaware of the turtles hot on his trail...

X-X-X

"Where tha' shell as he gon'?" Raphael yelled in frustration as he glanced around for his elder brother. Following the leader of the brothers seemed easy when Splinter had first assigned them the job, moments after Leo had left but they had somehow managed to lose him. Even Mikey who had run as fast as he could to try to track his brother couldn't find him. Brilliant.

Donatello shot his immediate older brother an annoyed look. "Raph, how are we supposed to know? I told you letting him go out alone was a bad idea. If we had gone with him, he would have been easier to keep an eye on anyways. This what you guys get for not listening to me!" Donatello had made his opinion known when Leo had announced he was going out. The brainiac had stated that letting Leo out alone was a bad idea just after fainting incase it happened again so someone should go with him. But nobody had really taken much notice of him. Something that frustrated the reptile inwardly.

"Guys," Mikey piped in. "It doesn't matter now. We should just keep looking for him. I have gotten some energy back now, I will run ahead and see if I can find him." With that, Michelangelo ran faster across the buildings, pulling ahead of his brothers who had slowed to a gentle jog. In truth, Mikey just wanted to get away from his older brothers. He could sense tension rising between them, something he didn't want to be a part of, and he didn't need to listen to his brothers yell at each other when he was already preoccupied with worry for his eldest brother.

Once Mikey was out of an ear and eye shot, an awkward silence settled upon the two brothers. Out of all the brothers, Raphael was probably the least close with Donatello. There was something about the turtle that he didn't understand; his love for mechanics. It had always been a wonder to the hot head how the purple-clad turtle would rather tinker with a toaster than hit somebody like Raph would prefer. Raphael did love him. He just wasn't close with him.

A few minutes of awkward silence later, Mikey returned with a worried look on his face. His lips pursed in a grim line.

"Did you find Leo?" Donatello asked him.

The latter shook his head. "No," He said quietly. "But I found that guy who broke into the factory. The one who hurt Leo."

X-X-X

Leo hopped onto the same roof he had for the past two days, worry and guilt starting to stab at him once again. How could he actually be doing this again? Especially after his little 'mad' fainting act earlier. It was a wonder to him. But now, the guilt was worsening more than ever and had started shredding more and more of his damaged and depleted spirit.

As expected, there was an arrow-gram plunged into the floor which he picked up with shaking hands. The leader silently begged that it would somehow be good. Somehow...

With a deep breath, he unfolded the note he had removed from the arrow and started to read.

_Dear Leonardo,_

_ I must say I am very impressed with your loyalty to me. You are an honourable fighter after all, eh? _

_Anyways, tonight I want you to go into the post office five minutes from here and hold whatever civilians that are in there, hostage, untill the staff there gives you the Power Surge device. When they do, I want you to then destroy the building. When you have completed this mission, leave the Power Surge device on the roof and return home._

_I am watching you Leonardo. Do not fail._

_Shredder_

Brilliant.


	18. Crime Number Three Part 1

**Sorry for the late update guys but I hope you like this chapter**

**Thank you for ALL the reviews**

The woman behind the desk screamed in terror as Leonardo unsheathed his katana, causing the turtle to jump. _'Calm down Leonardo' _he thought to himself, _'You need to focus' _Trying to calm his adrenalin, the turtle leaped forward and covered the womans mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie, being careful to hide his hands. He didn't want anyone to know he was actually a mutant turtle. It would things worse.

However, despite covering her mouth, the woman continued her screaming fit. She would alert someone if she kept up. That was something he couldn't allow.

This was very new to the blue-clad terrapin. He had never had to deal with such a screamer before and he had never given anyone who had screamed a good reason to. Leonardo knew he wasn't going to harm her. However, if he was to follow Shredder's orders, he was going to have to make her _at least _believe he was going to.

Grabbing the handle of his katana tightly, he brought the blade up to the woman's throat. "Shut up!" He barked at her, trying to sound as menacing and dangerous as possible. Leonardo felt a weird feeling wash over him as he said those words, but what was this feeling? He had felt it before, just after he'd been assigned the duty of carrying out crimes. He thought over it for a moment when he realised... the feeling was disgust. Disgust for himself. He had threatening an innocent. He was a repulsive being now, or at least he was in his opinion.

The woman instantly fell silent, her eyes wide and face, pale. The other people who were also in the room also remained silent and non-moving almost like if they were to move even a small centimetre they would be slain. That is actually probably what they thought would happen if they did move. After all, not everyone is without mercy and some criminals fit under that category. Leo just wasn't one of them. But they didn't know that. Much like how they didn't know he actually fought crime with his brothers during the day time.

His brothers...he really hated himself for doing this, he really did but he had to. He could feel the Shredder watching him even now and he couldn't cut corners on something like this. If he did one thing that was against the Shredder's orders, his foe's katana may just be grazing against each of his brothers throats in the near future and that was something that he would do anything to prevent. Even hold innocents hostage.

Leo narrowed his eyes towards the woman, making himself look as deadly as possible. "Now listen," he hissed. "Give me the power surge device and I will let you go free. I will let you _all _go free." The words felt strange inside his mouth. It felt almost like when you eat something you never have before and you try to see if you like the taste and texture or not. Leonardo didn't like the taste and feeling of the words. He also felt like one of those bad guys in TV programmes. The ones with the cheesy, evil laugh.

The woman's wide eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. "That power what?"

"The power surge device! Where is it?" The turtle barked at the woman again, causing her to shrink slightly.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" She cried out. Yip. Definitely like a cheesy TV programme.

Leonardo could tell the woman spoke the truth, yet he had to pressure her for more information. His brothers, lives were at stake. She had to know _something. Anything._

Leonardo widened his eyes a little so that he looked less threatening and whispered comfortingly to the woman. "Listen," He whispered softly. "I am sorry for scaring you, but I have to do this. My brothers, lives are in danger and I need to get this mad man the power surge device to leave them alone. Please. Do you know anything?" Desperation filled his quiet tone and the woman gave him a look of empathy, though he didn't know why. He had threatened her. Held a katana at her throat. Yet, she still showed empathy for him.

The other citizens had not heard this plea, so they stood in the corner of the room shaking in terror. That just made the turtle feel guilty.

The woman leaned over the desk slightly and she whispered a reply. "I don't know what you speak of," She began. "But, I know if it would be anywhere, it would be in that room over there." She pointed to a wooden door with a small glass window on the top to his left. "That is the shipping room where all letters and packages are kept before sending. Your best bet is in there."

Leonardo felt overwhelming relief wash over him. His brothers may live another day after all. "Thank you so much."

"No problem."

The turtle walked over to the door and opened it quickly before stepping inside. It was dark inside the room, with many boxes filled with letters stacked up all over the circular place. He glanced around the room and looked for anything that screamed _'Power surge device' _

He had only just stepped into the room completely when he head a loud slam behind him. He whirled around and saw that the wooden door was shut. Walking over to the door again, he tried to turn the handle but he couldn't. It was locked. The woman had locked him in. He was trapped.

"Hayy!" Leonardo yelled, bashing his fist on the wooden door. "Let me out!" Panic rose inside of him. What if they called the police? They would find out he is a mutant turtle and would experiment on his reptilian body.

But nothing compared to the shock and horror when he heard a reply.

"Looks like you are in a tough spot, eh Leonardo? _Karai._


	19. Crime Number Three Part 2

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Leonardo slowly slid his hands down the wooden door before they rested at his sides, feeling shock and terror fill his terrapin body. No. It couldn't be Karai... could it? "You seem shocked Leonardo," Karai said with her usual monotone voice. So it was Karai. "Or maybe it is just your petty guilt?" Leonardo whirled his body around in a flash to see the Japanese woman standing before him in her usual, Foot uniform.

"What are you doing here Karai?" Leonardo demanded, his voice filled with disgust.

"Business." Leonardo raised a brow at the woman.

"Business? For who?" He already knew the answer.

"Master Shredder," Karai replied, stepping into the turtle's line of sight. It was still dark inside the room, but the light from the post office gave the circular place a slight, yellow glow towards the door.

"So you are still working for him?" Leonardo asked. Ever since he had learnt that Karai actually worked for the Shredder and was even considered his daughter, he had believed she would one day leave the Foot and continue some place else on her own. Though he would never admit it through vocalisation, Leo knew the Japanese woman could be great away from the bad influence of the Shredder, because she had honour. Something no other enemy of his had.

"Yes, Leonardo, and it appears you have also joined the Foot also," Karai smiled smugly at the guilt and despise that Leonardo's eyes flashed. The reptile glanced at the floor. A picture of his family appeared in his mind; the picture from his mug. In the picture, Mikey had his arms draped around both of the younger turtles necks; laughing like a maniac. Raphael look slightly annoyed with the younger turtle, but you could clearly see the happiness inside the hotheads' eyes and Donatello was holding a cup of coffee, looking as if he was about to spill it as some of the brown liquid was flying in the air.

Leo remembered that day very well. It was Mikey's eighth birthday. He remembered that afterwards, they had given the orange-clad reptile a cake that was bigger than him. They were sick for three days afterwards. Good memories. Very good memories actually. Nothing like the memories he would have of this crime business. The memories he would have of betraying and deceiving his brothers... _'No! Don't think of your brothers! Not in front of Karai!' _he thought desperately but it was too late, she had already seen enough.

"I am not part of the Foot!" The reptile stated in a monotone voice.

"No? Then tell me, Leonardo. Why are you here? Why are you on urgent business for the Foot clan?" Karai pressed on, trying to break the turtle. She had seen how much reminding him of his latest actions hurt him and she planned to use this to harm him further.

But this didn't have the effect the woman wanted. It didn't upset Leonardo, it made him angry. "Listen Karai!" He snapped, his eyes narrowing as his anger started to build. He felt a little like Raph. Transferring his pain to anger. "Don't think you can break me because you can't. I am here because I have to. For my brothers. My family. Because your _master _threatened me and practically ruined my life! I am not here because of the bastards that you call your clan." It was rare that Leonardo swore, but so much of his pain was now reduced to anger, he couldn't help it.

Suddenly, Leo's katana clashed against Karai's. Sparks flying off both of the weapons. "Take. That. Back!" Karai hissed, pressing her weight further against her katana, causing Leo to lean back.

"I will not take back the truth!"

Leo went into a defensive stance as Karai let out a cry of anger and brought her katana back and swiped for Leo's neck, a swipe which he ducked. She then tried to stab him in the shoulder but he used his katana to skillfully block the weapon, quickly turning it as she tried to stab his other shoulder. Her katana whistled through the air as Leonardo continued to block her attacks, not showing any signs of tiredness.

Karai leaped back as Leo shifted from defense to attack. He ducked down low into a squat as he kicked his leg out, trying to catch the woman off-balance only for her to jump over his leg. Still in a squat, he quickly spun his body around whilst keeping his leg extended and slowly rose into a standing position, feeling slightly dizzy once he came to a stop.

Karai used this to her advantage as she brought her blade down on his shoulder, the blade cutting deep into his green skin as his body almost touched the floor. The turtle cried out in pain as he gripped his arm tightly, falling to his knees as he saw how the blade had cut cleanly through his grey hoodie and now a red, deep, fleshy mess was left where the fabric had been. The blue-clad terrapin had dropped one of his katana's still gripped the other.

The Japanese woman smiled smugly at her foe. "You are weaker, Leonardo," She commented, bringing the blade of her katana so it was beneath his chin. That was when...

"Hayy! What tha' shell is goin' on in here?" _Raph._ Oh no. Karai's smile widened.

"Looks like you are out of luck. I take it your brothers have no knowledge of your actions?"

Leonardo glanced up, his eyes wide with innocence. "No," He said quietly. He was quiet for a few moments when a look of menace appeared on his features. "But they will not gain that knowledge today!" He quickly swung his head back and escaped the tip of Karai's blade before stabbing his katana into Karai's foot. The black-haired woman let out a cry of agony as Leonardo quickly freed his blade from her foot with a squelch and grabbed his other katana with the same hand.

The arm which Karai had stabbed seemed to have gone dead so it was pretty useless to him now.

Karai fell back onto a pile of boxes with a crash and Leonardo lost sight of her in the darkness of the room. But before he got the chance to search for her, the door to the storage room opened...

"Well would you look who it is? Our newest criminal. Time to kick some shell!"

**Another horrible fight scene ugh...**


	20. Hit and Run

The sai flew through the air with amazing speed as it hurdled towards Leonardo's neck, the blue clad turtle ducking just as it flew past his ear. He felt the gust of wind as it continued to fly and embedded itself in a nearby wall. That was close.

Soon after, Leonardo had to drop down even further so he was lying with his stomach to the floor as Donatello tried to hit the back of his head which would have knocked him unconscious. Soon after that, he pencil rolled to avoid getting hit with one of Mikey's nunchucks. He stood up quickly as he gripped his katana, his knuckles going bright yellow.

His brothers certainly weren't going easy on him. They viewed him as an enemy. Which, to them, he was. But they were fighting with so much determination and ferocity you could swear they were fighting Baxter Stockman, Hun, or even Shredder. Ughhh.. Shredder. Leo was going to kill him for making him have to even consider fighting his brothers.

Leonardo bit into his lip when his younger brothers started to circle him like he was some helpless pig in a pen. Raph picking up the sai that was still embedded in the wall. The terrapin really did not want to fight. He did not want to risk hurting his brothers, like in his dreams...

The turtle jolted out of his thoughts when Raph's sais scraped against his katana, the hot head trying to hock the prongs of his weapon around the blue-clad reptile's blade. Leonardo had a feeling Raphael would attempt to break his sword. He did it all the time during training sessions and had broken many sets of katana's in doing so. The red-clad turtle was good at it. Yet, Leonardo couldn't afford to lose his weapon now and if he wanted to keep it he would have to fight back.

Ignoring his conscience to just allow his brother to break his weapon. Leonardo kicked Raph square in the knee and the red turtle tumbled backwards, going gracefully in a back roll before landing on his feet besides his other two brothers. That did not impress Raphael at all and you could see his green face starting to go slightly pink with anger.

"You little-" Raph hissed under his breath before trying to attack his leader again, attempting to stab his sais into Leo's eyes. Leo sidestepped out-of-the-way of the blow and stuck out his leg which Raphael tripped over, toppling into the same wall that his sai had got trapped in. That gave Leonardo an idea. He knew his brothers weaknesses and since they didn't know the person behind the mask was Leo, they didn't know what his weakness was. Maybe if he could just use their weaknesses against them, the blue-clad turtle wouldn't have to hurt them, or at least not badly.

Okay so what were their weaknesses? Raph's was his anger. Mikey's was probably him being too easily distracted and Don's was his huge reliance on technical weaponry. He had already found a way to use Raph's weakness now he just needed to think about how to use Mikey's and Don's.

"Raph!" Mikey screeched as Raph flopped onto the floor, unconscious. This caused more panic to flood through the blue-clad turtle. Was he okay? What if he had hit his temple? Leo bit his tounge when guilt took a tight hold on him. If he had harmed his brother it was his fault...

Raphael lifted his head slightly of the concrete floor. "I... am... okay... Mike," He murmured before darkness overcame him again and he slipped out of consciousness.

Raphael looked quite pale and had a large bruise on his forehead but he was mostly alright. Much to Leo's relief. But of course, that is when his usual dark thoughts came in, taunting him with its painful words like, _'What if he had hit his temple?_' and _'You swore never to hurt your brothers_' and the one he hated the most... 'How _could you do that? You are the eldest. You betray them now you harm them. You are even worse than the Shredder'_ The reptile cringed when he heard the words, shutting his eyes tightly, trying to block the words out. _'Go away, Go away' _He screamed inwardly. Begging almost.

_'At least there is some good from this.'_ Leonardo told himself firmly. Attempting to silence the voice. '_Raphael now can't fight. Now I just have to worry about Don and Mike' _The chilling voice silenced his attempt of a calming thought.

_'That is a good thing? You are disgusting!' _Leo felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. All the emotions from his recent crimes met him all at once and he almost stumbled back physically beneath the emotional weight that he was suddenly put under. All his guilt, sadness, regret, hate, love, betrayal... all placed on his shoulders with a massive clunk. Leo felt like he was going to break down it was so overwhelming heavy on his weakened heart.

"I know," Leo murmured under his breath. Tears starting to roll down his cheeks. Great, now he was crying. "I know..."

Leonardo couldn't break down now, he had to get away first. He had to get away...

Suddenly feeling sheepish about ending the fight. Leo quickly leapt at Michelangelo who was still distracted by the unconscious Raphael. The orange-clad turtle let out a horrified yelp as Leo skimmed the youngest turtle's bicep with his katana. It was only a light scrape, nothing compared to his shoulder injury, but it would hurt the turtle enough to put him off fighting. This worked well as the second Leo let go of the turtle, he fell backwards, trying to crawl away.

'_Now you are hurting Mikey? Your baby brother? What is wrong with you!' _His conscience yelled at him, causing more tears to prick his eyes.

Donatello looked pretty frightened, alone with neither brothers by his side, but Leo could tell he was trying to hide his fear. However, once again, it was his eyes that gave him away. The wind whipped his mask tails across his terrapin face as he prepared his staff into an offense position. Seconds passed and the fight began.

Donatello leaped forward and tried to attack the leader. He started by trying to hit Leonardo's shoulder wound but narrowly missed when Leo dodged to the side, the bo staff skimmed his shell. The brainiac continued, this time attempting to strike his eldest brother's feet which Leo had to quickly spin his katana into position to dodge. The purple-clad reptile continued. Aiming for anywhere he thought would be a weak point for his combatant and this forced Leo to constantly be on the defence to avoid his brother's quick, powerful blows.

But going so fast had a price. Meer minutes since the fight broke out between the brothers, Don started to tire. His strikes became slower and more sloppy and Leo could hear raspy breath's escaping from his green lips. Now was his chance to end the fight.

Ducking down beneath another attack from Donatello, Leo jabbed the hilt of his katana into Donatello's solar plexus, winding him. The turtle fell on the floor with a thud.

The fight was over he had won.

Quickly turning on his heels, Leo ran out the door and was soon running across the rooftops of New York. Reveling in guilt about what he had done.

**Leo, you were so lucky. How you got away I will never know... ****Wait. Actually I do know, I am the authour.**

**Hope that fight wasn't TOO bad and it was what you guys wanted.**


	21. Too Easily Forgotten

"Is everyone okay?" asked Donatello as he slowly got to his knees, clutching his stomach area as the winded feeling began to fade. Behind the calm face the brainiac wore, he felt deeply disappointed with himself. He had let the hooded criminal get away.

Raphael pushed himself up from the floor, looking dizzy and with a new, fresh bruise on his forehead. The hot head's fists were now clenched tightly and his knuckles had gone pasty white. For a turtle with green skin, you could image the strength he was doing to make his knuckles go so white when they normally went yellow under extreme force. "If ya' mean physically, yeh'. If ya' mean if I am calm, then no. I ain't fine. I am so gonna' kill that bastard!" He yelled, punching the wall he had slammed into during the fight. Tiny pieces of rock fell on the floor.

Mikey watched his second oldest brother with a worried look, concerned about his ever-growing anger. Master Splinter always used to say that, "Anger is a weapon. A powerful weapon. An unreliable weapon. It can help you by making your movements quick and powerful. Yet it can destroy you by blocking your better senses." What caused Mikey's concern was that, like Master Splinter had predicted, Raphael's anger was starting to block his better senses and that he may end up harming himself.

The youngest turtle cradled his left bicep in his right hand, running his fingers over the wound and wincing as it made contact. The orange-clad turtle stared at some blood that was drizzling down his green, reptilian skin. He remained silent. It was a hard thing to face, but the three brothers knew they had lost far too easily. They had only managed to hit their enemy once. It was like they were facing the Shredder.

The young turtle was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't realised his immediate elder, Donnie, was standing over him until the latter had taken hold of his arm and began accessing his fresh wound. Michelangelo watched as Donatello remained silent and solemn as he peered at the injury. "I think it will be fine." Don whispered after a while, letting go of his brother's arm. "We just need to clean it and wrap it once we get back to the lair." Mikey nodded as the turtle extended his hand to him and helped the younger turtle to his feet.

"Raph?" Donnie called to his immediate older who now stood, heaving and sighing with his forehead pressed against the chimney. "We're going."

Raphael glared at his younger brother. "You're jokin' I am not lettin' that bastard get away-"

"Raphael. Just get a grip and swallow your pride for once! We are going. End of discussion." Donatello snapped, taking both Mikey and Raph aback. _'Donnie never snaps at anyone. He must be pretty upset.' _Mikey thought to himself. He was right. The brainiac now felt like he had failed his family for letting the criminal get away.

Despite still glowing with anger, Raphael did what his brother requested and followed his two brothers as they started the walk home. One thing was certain in the hot head's mind now. He was so going to murder whoever was under the hood.

X-X-X,

Leonardo ran as fast as he could down the many sewer tunnels, his feet skidding as he made quick turns around the many corners. Now he had done it. Now he had messed up big time.

The turtle slid to a stop when he reached the entrance to the lair, heaving and drenched in sweat. The turtle didn't want to step inside the lair. Well... he wanted to but he felt he shouldn't. He didn't deserve a home. He deserved the murky sewer water with all the other lowlife's that thrived in that enviroment and even then he would be getting off lightly.

By fighting his brothers to keep his identity a secret, he had defeated the whole point of him even doing the crimes. To protect his family. To keep them safe from harm. He had hurt them. Admittedly not badly but he had hurt them and that cold, hard truth was killing him inside. His emotions were killing him. They stabbed at him, kicked at him, punched at him; even bit at him. They were fighting him and weren't going to give up until he had reached the point of depression and a knife was piercing his stomach.

The lair doors opened suddenly as Leo subconsciously jabbed the code into the keypad. The emotionally stricken turtle stepped inside and bounded up the stairs, not even bothering to acknowledge the meditating rat who was jarred suddenly out of his mediated stance by the sudden attack of emotions that filled the air. The rat clutched his heart by the sudden emotion that filled him and his eyes trailed his eldest son who slammed the door behind him in his entry to his bedroom.

Leonardo collapsed onto his bed with tears streaming down his cheeks as he sobbed softly into his pillow. When the blue-clad reptile tried to stop his tears, Leo started to sob more hysterically. He hated himself. Hated himself with a new passion. If only he had never agreed to help the Shredder in his crimes...

No. He couldn't think like that. The crimes were what stopping his brothers from being viciously killed...

Suddenly, Leo's tears suddenly stopped and he sat bolt upright. Shaking and his breath raspy. "No, no, no. Please no." He begged under his breath as panic started to consume him. '_This can't be... please tell me I didn't...'_

Leonardo had forgotten about the power surge device. He had been too distracted by his brothers turning up. He had failed the crime.

_"Yes, Leonardo. You have failed and I always thought you had the best memory."_ A voice said behind Leo. Leonardo froze. He knew that voice only too well.

However, before he could think to yell or even turn to look at the face of the Shredder, a blow to his head came and he was knocked out of consciousness.

**Okay did any of you guys remember about the power surge device? I think some of you forgot about it and if you did, yay for me! That was my aim.**


	22. Foolishness With Consequences

**I HIT 150 REVIEWS! YAY! That was my goal and if I get any more reviews, this story will officially be my most reviewed story. This story also has the most amount of words written and it isn't even close to completion.**

**Most of you guys in the reviews said you forgot about the Power Surge device so another yay.**

The Shredder stared at the unconscious form of Leonardo that lay at his feet, sprawled and cheeks stained with tears. Pathetic fool. So very foolish and Shredder thought Splinter had trained him better. Then again, the old rat was just as bad.

Shredder knew Leonardo would fail the third crime. He had predicted it from the start. He was never even_ meant_ to pass the third crime. That is why he sent in Karai to distract him until his brothers arrived. However, what he never planned was for him to come close to failing the first mission which was, in the Shredder's opinion, the most easy-going of all the crimes. So, he threw a rock into the factory to help him.

The whole point of Shredder forcing Leonardo to complete the crimes was to make him suffer as much as possible before attacking the people he called his family. To lead him into despair and then slash the necks of everyone the turtle cared for before Leonardo too joined the land of the dead. There was another reason also, but Shredder wasn't going to delve his thoughts further into that. The point was that the Shredder had no intent on keeping his promise to not attack the turtle's family. Even if he did somehow manage to complete the third crime.

The villain grabbed the blue-clad reptile's shoulders and rested him against the foot of the bed, near the metal frame. Then he grabbed some rope he had held and tied his hands to the leg of the bed before tieing more rope around his mouth. He knew the turtle wouldn't be unconscious for long and he didn't want him to alert anyone of his presence.

Once he had finished he sat besides the door and waited for the three younger turtles to return home. The Shredder didn't have much patience so he hoped the turtles would show up soon. After all, he had given a lot of effort to get inside the lair...

Shredder had discovered the lair's location a little time before he had sent the Foot ninja's out to lure Leonardo into a trap. Leonardo and Raphael were arguing over something pointless when they had alerted one of his Foot ninja. The Foot ninja followed the turtles until they returned to the lair and soon after, the Foot ninja told Shredder where the lair was. That Foot ninja was later assigned to head of one of the groups of Foot ninja. The group Leonardo had gone with for the second crime.

Soon after, Shredder and the other members of the Foot clan had tried to find other entrances to the lair knowing that they wouldn't get passed the main lair doors. After a while, they did find a sewer grate just below central park that went into Michelangelo's room. That is also how he managed to slip past Splinter. It was at that point when Leonardo finally came out of hiding to follow a Foot ninja...

You know the rest.

Shredder rest his head against the wall, grinning mischievously, when he heard the voices of the other turtles. Now was the time for the major suffering to begin.

X-X-X

Splinter continued to clutch his chest in agony long after his heart rate had gone down. The sudden attack of emotions had unnerved him greatly and had caused much stress for his fragile heart. Splinter was stunned. Very stunned. Stunned that his own son had so many emotions attacking his spirit. How the blue-clad reptile was still holding himself together (at least in front of him) was a mystery to the mutant rat as he could barely cope with all the emotion.

The rat glanced up as his three younger sons as they entered the lair, unusually silent. However, when they saw their master, their faces broke into looks of horror.

"Master Splinter!" They yelled and ran up to him, kneeling by his side. Splinter couldn't imagine what he must have looked like but he imagined it wasn't a pretty sight.

"Are you okay?" Donatello asked, resting his hand on the rat's back to straighten up his posture. The rat nodded but he still looked pretty stressed.

"I am fine, my sons. Don't worry for me. It is your brother I am concerned for."

"Leo? He's back?"

"Yes, Raphael and I am afraid that he is being badly attacked by his emotions. There is a lot going on inside him mind."

Donatello raised a brow. "What are you saying? Did he do this to you?" The rat nodded curtly, causing the three brothers to glance at each other.

"Admittedly not on purpose but while I was mediating, he walked in and his aura shook be up pretty badly. I am concerned about him."

Mikey stroked his chin. "Should we talk to him?"

"That is probably our best course of action, Michelangelo."

The rat and the turtles got up off the floor and headed towards the leader's bedroom. They reached the door in seconds before Splinter knocked on the door. "My son?" The rat called. No reply.

"Leonardo?" Nothing again. That caused some worry to begin to rise inside each of the mutants. Why wasn't he answering.

Raphael, his patience drained, suddenly yelled. "That's it! We're coming in!"

Raph twisted the handle of the door and burst inside, looking around. However he couldn't see his beloved brother. All he could see was the gloom of the unlit bedroom. However, he could sense a presence.

The three other mutants followed him inside and they all had the same feeling. They felt as if someone was watching them. Staring at them. "Leonardo?" Splinter called.

"Foolish idiots!" The mutants spun around at the sound of the voice and then they saw the being that had watched them. The Shredder.

"Shredder!" The turtle gasped. Shredder laughed at them.

"You are just as foolish as your leader. However, I made a promise to Leonardo and I intend to keep it." Shredder suddenly lashed out at Splinter, Donatello and Raphael and slammed them into the wall. They all fell to the ground unconscious. The villain turned to the orange-clad terrain who just stared at his family's unconscious forms in horror. A twisted smile appeared on the Shredder's face. "A promise that I would make him suffer if he should fail me. "

Mikey let out a terrified screech as Shredder wrapped his right arm around the turtle's neck, making breathing difficult for the young turtle. The orange-clad reptile tried to free himself from the Shredder's grasp but couldn't. He was too stong. Mikey started to breathe husky breaths.

The Shredder twisted smile grew even more when he unsheathed his katana and pressed it against the youngest turtle's shell. "And what better way to make him suffer than to slaughter each of his brothers one by one. But first, little Michelangelo, we are going to take a trip to Foot headquarters where we will make sure your death is nice and slow."

**Just so you know, the Shredder is a human Shredder but I imagine him as kinda like Utron Shredder. So he had the Utron Shredder's personality and family connections except he is human. If that makes sense. It is just easier to write for a human than for a Utron.**


	23. Never Before in a Dream

**Thank you so much guys for all the reviews. It means the world to me that you like this so much.**

_Leonardo fell backwards as Raphael nipped his leg with the prongs of his sais, causing the leader to cry out in pain. He hated this. He hated that he was helplessly fighting one of his brothers once again in the depths of his troubled mind. The blue-clad turtle knew how this dream was going to end - With Raphael smeared in blood and frozen cold as his heart lay motionless inside his chest - and Leo was dreading having to witness it. _

_Leonardo had entered the dream world to Raphael trying to tear his head of his shoulders. The younger turtle's tense body showing the leader that he was angry and this scared Leo. However, his dream body had easily dodged the attack and that is when the fight broke out._

_The blue-clad reptile's body rolled away from another of Raphael's attacks and stuck out its leg, trying to trip the angered turtle. Raphael did stumble but he didn't fall and so he threw this sai, aiming for Leo's throat. "How could ya' do this Leo!?" The hot-head yelled as Leonardo back-flipped out-of-the-way of the incoming sai. "How could ya' betray us? Ya' bastard!"_

_Leo knew his brother was talking about his earlier crimes and this sent guilt-ridden chills up his spine. "What is the matter Raphael?" A twisted voice escaped his dream body's lips. It sounded so cold. So heartless. "Do you miss you brothers?" The blue-clad terrapin was practically punching himself for his words. _

_Raphael looked like he was going to explode. You could almost see steam flowing out of his ears. "__You lil' son of a-"_

_"-Watch what you say now Raphie-boy," The turtle continued, grinning smugly. "I am your brother remember?" Leonardo's dream body forced him to laugh as Raphael clenched his fists tightly around his sais. He had retrieved the sai he had thrown as Leo had spoken. _

_"You are no brother of mine ya' pile of shit!"_

_The words felt like knives as they pierced Leo's heart and ears. Had his brother just disowned him? This really was a nightmare. The leader's dream body however, wasn't even a little effected. "Awww have I hurt the poor little turtle? Do you want a hug?"_

_That did it._

_With a growl Raphael leaped into the air with both sais aimed for the latter, a look of menace conveyed on his face. Leo easily dodged the attack and Raphael ended up plunging his sais into the wooden floor. The prongs trapped between the floorboards. With a hiss of frustration, the hot-head yanked on the handles of his sais but to no avail. The sais remained stuck._

_The leader took this as an opportunity and wrapped his arm around the younger terrapin's neck before grabbing his katana and bringing it up to his throat. Leonardo knew what was going to happen next so he tried his best to close his eyes, yet, he still had no control. The suspense was starting to kill him as he awaited his brother's death. "Looks like you anger had come in handy for once, eh Raph?" _

_Raphael fixed him a glare before the knife grazed against his neck._

_What made this dream different from the other dreams was that when Donatello and Michelangelo had supposedly died, Leonardo didn't actually see them fall to the ground dead. This time was different. The blue-clad turtle watched with horrified eyes as Raphael fell limp in his arms, his eyes glazing as they widened in shock and terror. The flames of fury and life flickering out of them. They were staring at him. Somewhat expressionless now but they were staring at him._

_Unable to contain his emotions no longer, the turtle cried out in grief and loss as his world faded to black..._

X-X-X

"Leo? Fearless? Wake up!"

"Raphael. I know I am not technically a doctor but I doubt telling him to wake up is going to make him awaken."

"Shut up, Don. Now ain't the time. We have gotta' save Mikey!"

"I know Raph, don't you think I don't know that? I am just saying 'don't waste you breath' It's pointless!"

Leonardo groaned as he listened to his younger brothers' argument. What did they mean Mikey was gone? Why was his heading hurting? Leonardo was beyond confused. "...what...are..." Leo mumbled sleepily as his eyes fluttered open, revealing his immediate and second youngest brother who were looking down at him with concern. Like with Donatello and Michelangelo, there was a moment of calming relief when he saw his immediate younger standing there. Although, this relief didn't last long. Much like all the other feelings he had gotten the past week that had given him some happiness.

Donatello looked extremely anxious as he fiddled nervously with his elbow pads. Raphael noticed his younger brother's nervousness so he spoke up. "Leo! The Shredder was here-" That is when Leo remembered the crime the night before and Shredder knocking him out cold.

"-I know- Leonardo interrupted only for Raphael to continue talking. Leonardo tried to sit up but regretted it when his injured arm sent shoots up pain through his body, causing him to wince. The leader glanced at the wound and saw it had been bandaged with a professional flourish. Donatello must have seen it and thought it was from the fight with the Shredder. He just didn't know it was actually from Karai stabbing him.

"And the bastard took Mikey."

"What!" The blue-clad terrapin felt a wave of fear and guilt wash over him. What was happening to Mikey? Was he okay? Was he even alive? The guilt came from knowing that he was to cause for Mikey's abduction in the first place. He should have just... he didn't know what he should have done and he hated himself for this.

He was Leonardo. The leader. The eldest, and he should never run out of ideas.

**I almost forgot about the Raphael death scene.**

**By the way, do any of you like dragons? If so, check out my story on Fictionpress (my name is also NJ7009 on that) and let me know what you think of it. Its called** '_The Girl and the Dragon' _**It is also my first attempt at an original story but you don't have to read it if you don't want to.**


	24. Will the Suffering Ever End?

**Hi guys, sorry about the late update and that it is not very good but I just wasn't really focused when writing this and well... here it is. So, sorry it is not very good.**

Leonardo fiddled with the sheath on his shell as awaited for his brothers to join him. What was taking them so long? The blue-clad reptile was so nervous that he kept taking out his katana, glancing at it, then putting it back into its sheath; unsure why he took it out in the first place. The turtle was more than a little scared for his younger brother's well-being, that much was clear. Was Mikey okay? Was he alive? Did Shredder capture him to lure the three other terrapins into a trap? Many questions floated in his mind, none of them with an answer and that killed him inside. He hated not knowing.

Leonardo rested his head against the wall as his thought of his baby brother. The three terrapins were heading to Foot headquarters to attempt a rescue, though the turtle feared that his secret identity would be revealed and his brother would already be in the land of the dead. Two huge fears he now possessed and he was on the brink of breaking down because of them.

Though it might seem like a rather odd thing to have given the circumstances, there was something else also that was bothering the terrapin. Leo, weirdly enough, really did not want to breach Foot headquarters with Donatello and Raphael after last night. He just felt really uncomfortable around them but he could live with it. After all, it was either go with them or go alone and if he went alone, he knew he would lose the upcoming fight and his brother.

X-X-X

Michelangelo yelped in pain as the Foot Ninja turned the crank, the unnamed ninja chuckling as the young turtle continued to scream in agony. The Foot ninja was loving this. Twisted Bastard.

The orange-clad turtle was on a rack. A medieval torture device and the reptile now knew why it was no longer used. The pain it was causing was excruciating. He couldn't bear it. He would rather have the ninja slice open his arms and legs than this. There was a popping noise as the ninja turned the crank again, signaling that Mikey now had a dislocated shoulder to go with his two legs and elbow. The turtle's yelp was heart-breaking. He was in so much pain. When would this end?

Desperate, the terrapin gave the ninja a pleading look. "Please stop. Please," Mikey begged, tears streaming down his cheeks. The ninja just laughed at him and turned the crank quickly, causing another scream to escape the turtle's lips. Suddenly, the door opened with a screech and the metal door slammed into the wall; causing some jars to fall of the shelves besides it and in walked the work of the devil. The Shredder.

"You may stop now Samuel, I have had enough of watching this _turtle _screech for dislocated bones. I want to see him really suffer. Bring him to the next torture chamber. It's time to put him in the boiler." The ninja walked over to the shaking turtle and undid his restraints. Mikey flopped ungracefully to the floor. The ninja then grabbed him roughly by his arm, his dislocated arm, and popped it back into place along with his two legs before yanking him out the door and into the corridor. The ninja then began to lead the terrapin towards the third room on the right hand side.

Inside the room which had a strange green glow was a huge metal tank and by huge, Mikey meant massive. It took up almost all the space of the room except for about two metres of space by the entrance where a tall ladder rested against the tank. The ninja pushed him inside and quickly closed the door, locking it. Mikey didn't even bother trying to open the door as he viewed the idea as pointless, which it was.

Mikey was aware he was inside Foot headquarters. Shredder had knocked him out on the way to the tower but it wasn't hard to guess his location. The Japanese interior helped with that. The turtle, though pain over-shadowed it slightly, was beyond petrified. Petrified beyond belief. Petrified beyond imagining even. The orange-clad reptile didn't even know someone could feel so much fear. Although the levels of fear he felt now were nothing compared to the amount of fear and guilt Leonardo had experienced whilst committing crimes.

Suddenly, two other members of the Foot emerged from the shadows of the room and grabbed both of his arms before pressing his body against the ladder. Then one of them pressed the blade of their katana against his shell. "Start climbing you disgusting thing or your head may just come away from your body." He threatened, pressing the blade harder into the youngest turtle's shell for emphasis.

Michelangelo gulped nervously. "Okay dude just stop pointing_ that_ at me." The turtle gestured to the katana which the ninja sheathed hesitantly. The turtle glanced up at the ladder and quickly started to climb it, suddenly glad that he didn't have his eldest brother's fear of heights. The tank seemed even bigger when climbing it and that didn't help with his injuries that remained after the rack though much of the pain was gone.

When the turtle did eventually reach the top of the tank, he glanced down at the liquid inside it. It was just normal water but was very hot. You could tell by the amount of steam radiating of the surface of the liquid; there was so much it was blinding. It must have been at least 100 degrees celsius or 212 degrees farenheit. Mikey's eyes furrowed as he heard the two other Foot ninjas get off the ladder also.

_'What is this for?' _The reptile thought to himself. Then, without warning, one of the ninjas pushed him roughly. Startled, the ninja turtle was unable to regain his footing and he fell into the boiling water, head first.

The reptile could feel his body burning as he flipped his body over and broke through the surface of the water, gasping and shaking. The turtle was almost white with burns as they broke out on his reptilian skin. The turtle couldn't move it stung so much. He even wished he was back in the room with the dreaded rack.

Mikey was so overwhelmed in pain and shock that his body seemed to just freeze, stopping him from trying to escape. To the orange-clad turtle it was like getting a glimpse of hell. His own personal hell. Mikey felt something, a rope of some kind, wrap around his neck and fish him out of the boiling water and place him on the side of the tank. Weirdly enough, the burns hurt more outside the tank than inside.

The burns covered every inch of his body, with the exception of his shell, and were white-hot. It felt that they were burning large holes into his skin in the most painful way possible. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he cried in agony.

The Foot ninja who had gotten him out of the tank pulled him to his feet, grabbing many burns as he did so and started to escort him out of the room. "C'mon reptile, iron maiden is next." He told him. Was this suffering ever going to end?


	25. Sloppiness and Keeping Quiet

**Another late chapter, sorry guys but at least this one is longer than the last one.**

**Hope you enjoy guys and thanks SO MUCH for all the reviews/favourites/followers. You guys are the best.**

Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael stood on the roof of a large mall that was just in front of the Foot Tower, the night cloaking their bodies and made them invisible to the naked eye. This wasn't a first for the terrapins. Using the dark as a way to hide your identity was all part of being a ninja. "They have increased the patrols," Donatello whispered to his two brothers as they scanned their eyes across the building, looking for any way of entry. "What should we do, Leo?" He asked.

Leonardo, however, didn't reply to his nerdy brother. Instead his eyes remained glued on the Foot Headquarters but he had heard the latter and knew only too well that he was right. There were far more Foot ninja that what there normally was. Shredder must not want the turtles to take home Mikey any time soon and this increased Leo's worry and guilt. It was now going to be even harder to sneak past the members of the Foot and would take more time. So, Mikey would stay in the clutches of the Shredder for longer and possibly undergo more torture sessions. The thought itself made such heartbreak fill the blue-clad turtle's soul and what made it all so much worse was that he knew it was his fault that his baby brother was suffering. If only he hadn't forgotten that stupid power surge device...

"There is no way we are getting in through the front," Leo informed as he wondered how he was going to get inside. His guilt filled thoughts would have to wait. Mikey needed him. "And there are a lot of Foot ninjas walking up to the right, possibly from the back. I think if we can find a window on the left then we will get inside. However, I fear the security systems. Shredder is good when it comes to detail and I have no doubt that the place is full of cameras and motion sensors."

Donnie reached into the shoulder bag he held over his shoulder and pulled out his shell cell. "I gotcha' Leo. I will jam the systems, but it may take some time. You and Raph are better off looking for a way in than waiting for me. How about this? I will hack the security system and you and Raph will look on the left for a way in and take out some Foot ninja. I will call you on the shell-cell once I'm done and then we can all go inside together?"

Leo nodded towards his second youngest brother before turning to face Raphael who seemed totally oblivious to what his remaining two brothers had discussed. Almost like the hot-head had been in a different world or had become deaf. "Raph?" Leo asked the hot-head. Raphael's green fingers tightened around the sais that he held in his two hands.

"I ain't leavin' Don!" The red-clad reptile stated stubbornly.

Leonardo gave his brother a weak smile though a slight tinge of guilt had began to spark inside him once more. "It will be fine Raph. Donnie can handle himself..."

Raphael glared at his elder. "Shuutup Fearless! You have ben' leavin' us a lot lately. At least I care enough for my brotha' to not leave him alone when we are right outside the Shredder's _fucking_ door. With him expectin' us. And when there is sum' _bastard_ who can whoop our _asses_ before we can even think twice. That is just foolish! I ain't losin' anotha' brotha'. Forget it Leo I ain't leavin'!"

The blue and purple-clad reptile's were taken aback majorly by Raphael's little rant. He had not only questioned Leo's leadership by disobeying orders and calling him foolish, but he had even said that Leo didn't care about his brothers. Something that was obvious to them all. However, Raphael was angry and he was good at hitting painful nerves when he was angry.

All the turtles, including Leonardo, thought the blue-clad turtle was going to come up with some form of comeback and he and Raphael would end up having a heated argument. However, he didn't. He didn't say a word. Instead the reptile glanced at the floor with small tears rimming his eyes.

So long had the blue-clad terrapin disagreed with Raphael on the hotheads' opinions. Normally thinking they were mad, irresponsible and extremely rash but this time, for once, he agreed with his immediate younger. Leo had abandoned him, Don and Mikey in the worst possible way. He had become their enemy and his brothers had no idea about it.

Leonardo turned away from his two brothers so they looked at his shell, tears now flowing down his cheeks as he tried to make sure a sob didn't escape his throat. The turtle stared at the roof beneath his feet as the tears left snail-like trails on his skin. He refused for his brothers to see him cry. "Okay Raph," Leo choked out, knowing he couldn't stop his voice from cracking. "You stay with Don. I will go."

Raphael must have guessed his elder was crying as he held his arm out to him, trying to grab his shoulder only for Leo to jump of the roof; landing gracefully on the ground before he vanished into the shadows in true ninja-like fashion. "Now you have done it!" Donatello muttered under his breath as he sat cross-legged on the ground, staring at his red-clad brother. Raphael didn't hear him.

X-X-X

Leonardo's emotions might not have been the cause but Leo was very sloppy in his actions once he approached the left side of the building. The terrapin wasn't careful. Already he'd been caught by three Foot ninja who had noticed his reptilian body seeping out of the shadows and into the light. Though Leo took them out without a huge amount of trouble, he knew that his fighting was becoming sloppier also. His attacks were slower and defences were weaker. It was like he was back at the skill level of a ten-year old. Well... when he was ten. Most others don't commit their lives to ninjitsu at such a tender age of three so his skill at ten would be different from another's who had started at a later age.

Another ninja noticed him and approached him with twin katanas in hand. Leonardo slammed his head against the wall. Blood splattered onto his hands but he knew the hit hadn't killed the ninja, it had only knocked him out. Three others saw this and approached him from behind, however, Leonardo just about managed to hear them in time to knock them unconscious with a few punches.

Leonardo continued onwards down the left side of the building, noting that there were actually very little ninjas there which he found rather odd. Why were there more people on the right than the left? It all was a huge mystery to him which he was having trouble to let slide. What was the Shredder doing to have the left side of the building unguarded? Leo was right about there being a window which was about a metre of the ground. Surely the Shredder wasn't that clumsy.

Unable to contain his curiosity much like his other emotions (He was still crying) The terrapin in blue slowly crept further down so he had passed the window and headed towards the back of the building. However, he was more than a little surprised about that he saw.

Behind the tower were two hundred Foot ninjas, all crowded close together and they were laughing and cheering in delight. Like they had just earned a great victory of some kind. Leo on instinct pressed his body closer to the wall while peering around the corner carefully. If he was caught now he was done for. Leonardo watched as the ninjas continued to laugh and cheer, clashing bottles of alcohol together before taking massive sips of the liquid which Leo thought was vodka. Was this some kind of party?

The reptile was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when he heard a high-pitched scream of pain, followed suit by laughter. Leonardo knew that scream anywhere... It was Mikey's scream. They must be torturing his baby brother now.

Leonardo leaned forward slightly, looking for a sign of his brother but he couldn't. He was nowhere to be seen. Leo would need to get closer.

Feeling a little hesitant at first, Leo emerged from the shelter of the wall and began approaching the unaware group of ninjas. Keeping low not to attract attention. Not that anybody looked in his direction that is.

Once he was close enough, Leo glanced at where all the ninjas were faced and saw there was a massive TV screen and on it was his brother, covered in blood and burns. The image made his crying hysteric. On the screen, Michelangelo was being electrocuted in a torture chamber, wires attached to every inch of his body.

At least he now knew where Mikey was. He was definitely in the Foot headquarters. Now all he had to do was sneak in.

Leonardo crept away from the group quietly and carefully, listening as the ninjas continued to cheer and laugh. If he didn't have to remain silent he would punch them for their twisted minds.

Once safely behind the wall again, he ran over to the window and stopped dead. Should he go get his brothers?... No. It would take too long. He would get Mikey himself. So, Leonardo opened the window and hopped in.


	26. Brotherly Bonding of the Purple and Red

**Sorry for the late update and the shortness of the chapter. There are a few reasons but I am not going to bore you with them. I also apologize about the uneventfullness of this chapter but I am a bit of a sucker for bonding chapters so hopefully you are too. **

**Thanks so much for all your support guys. I have now got almost 180 reviews, 23 favs and 30 follows. Thanks again.**

"Now you have done it!" Donnie muttered under his breath as he sat cross-legged on the floor, staring at his brother. Raphael didn't hear him, or at least he pretended not to. Donatello sighed. _Ignorant. _"Raph don't ignore me. Raph? Raphael!"

Raphael spun around to look at his brother, his face filled with such sorrow that it scared the latter. "I know Don! I know I've messed up big but 'e was bein' all... Fearless. Why ain't 'e got any fear? Does 'e care there is some _fucka'_ out there and you could get hurt?"

The purple-clad terrapin stood up from the ground, leaving the shell-cell on the floor and walked over to his immediate elder before he stopped. Both brothers stared at each other for a few long moments, not exchanging any words. Donatello had a solemn face while Raphael's had a bit more anger and sadness to it. Then, Donatello rested a hand gently on Raphael's shoulder. Raphael looked at the ground. Something in Donatello's eyes just told him to shut up and let Donnie speak.

"Raph, I know you want to protect me. You always have always tried to protect everyone you feel deserving; but the truth is you can't. That is just it. You should have gone with Leo. He needs you and although you may feel you need to protect me, I can handle myself. Leo needs you more than I do." Donatello said softly, not taking his hand of his brother's shoulder. "Especially now."

Raphael glanced up at his brother though his head remained facing the floor. Since he knew his voice had been heard, the purple-clad terrapin continued.

"He is suffering. Leo I mean. Suffering beyond imagination. Suffering even more than that time we had to blow up the spaceship and he went all guilty. We have all noticed. Even Mikey. And I know you feel he is your better, Raph. You feel that you will never be as good as he is. You feel he doesn't even have fear, but you are wrong. He isn't better than you; you don't need to be like him and one thing I know for sure is that he isn't fearless. That is why he is suffering. This emotion you feel he doesn't have is eating him alive and we all need to help. Even if we don't know the reason for his fear. We are his brothers. It is our duty to help him and be there for him."

Raphael eventually looked up from the floor. "You're right Don," He whispered, his voice barely audible. However, Donatello's highly trained ears heard it. "I know I should have gone with 'im but it is just this hooded guy-I'm goin' to just call him Dragon-Anyways, this Dragon is dangerous. He beat is very easily. It made no sense. I guess I'm just afraid that he'll harm ya'... I don't wanna lose another brother."

Raphael began to sob though it was obvious he was trying to hold it back. That is when Donatello did something he never had before... he pulled his hotheaded brother into a hug. A massive bear hug. The warmth of his brother and safety he felt triggered the red-clad turtle to eventually let the tears roll.

Donatello smiled weakly at his immediate older brother. "Raphael. I know how you feel. I really do. I know this _Dragon _as you called him, is a very dangerous threat. However, it is not me you should fear losing. It is Leo." Don released his brother from the embrace but continued to grip his shoulders. "Dragon is dangerous but no weapon is more deadly than yourself. If you have no control over yourself, you will lose at whatever you try to accomplish. Leo is turning his emotions into a weapon. You must know what that is like with your anger sometimes getting the better of you."

Raphael sighed. All his life, he and Donatello had been far from close. Raphael was far closer to Leo and Mikey and Donatello only appeared to be close with Mikey (He was pretty independent) They didn't dislike each other or anything but they just weren't close. They would risk their lives for each other obviously, and couldn't live without them but if they were ever alone together, they either didn't talk or delved into a really awkward conversation. Their opinions on certain matters helped with that. This was probably the most heartfelt conversation they'd ever had.

Raphael who had now stopped crying smiled weakly. "You're right Don, thanks... But could ya' do me a favour and not mention this to anyone... like Leo or Mikey."

Donatello laughed lightly. "Don't worry Raph, you can trust me." And with that Donnie walked away from his brother and returned to the shell-cell that lay on the floor waiting for him. Donnie sat on the ground besides it and picked up his creation.

Donatello was just starting to hack into the Shredder's security systems when the purple-clad reptile's blood ran cold. "Raph!?" He yelled frantically. His eyes were wide and his face was becoming yellow which signified he was going pale. "Raph!"

Raphael who'd been preparing to leave and go find Leonardo whirled around quickly. "What!? What is it Don? What's the matter!?" Donatello looked up slowly, his eyes beginning to rim with tears.

"Leo has gone inside the Foot headquarters..." He swallowed.

"What!? Aww Fearless I am gonna' kill ya'"

"It gets worse..." Donnie swallowed again. Even Raphael could see the fresh fear inside his immediate younger brother's eyes. "...I haven't turned the security off yet... The Foot know he is in there... He is going to get captured..." Don took in a shaky breath to compose himself. "We have to get him out of there now!""

Raphael didn't need to be told twice and he hopped off the roof without hesitation, sais in hand. Donatello right behind him.


	27. Keep Control

**Another short chapter but the good bits are soon to come. I can't wait for you guys to read it.**

**Thanks so much for all the reviews/follows/favs guys**

Leonardo walked down the halls of the Foot headquarters wearily, jumping whenever he saw a moving shadow on the wall that normally turned out as his own or if the floorboards creaked beneath his feet. The turtle's emotions were making him too jumpy and it was starting to really annoy the turtle. Why can't there be an off switch for feeling emotion? Life would be so much easier without them...Well... without unpleasant emotions.

The turtle felt ridiculous as he wandered around in the Japanese themed halls cluelessly. Despite all his confrontations with the Shredder, he still had no idea how to get around the villain's headquarters. The place was so huge. Leo was willing to bet most of the rooms were there just to make life difficult for intruders and that they had no real reason. If that was the case, Shredder had done a good job. He had no idea where he was going.

Leo rounded around another corner and opened the door two from the right before emerging into a new hall. The normally collected turtle almost slammed his fist into the wall. He couldn't believe it. He could be going around in circles yet he wouldn't know about it. All the halls looked the same with the same carpet, wall colour, amount of doors and decor. The reptile had no time for this. Mikey could be inches from death, yet, he was walking around like a headless chicken trying to guess which door to use next. He didn't even know if he was going in the right direction... at these thoughts, Leo suddenly thought of Raph. He was acting just like the hot-head. He had to calm down.

Stopping, the blue-clad turtle shut his eyes tightly and took a few deep breaths; trying to block out his foul emotions and replace them with that of calm. However, he couldn't. Every time he tried, flashbacks of what he had done the last few days flashed before his eyes, forcing his eyes open and the calm he had gained to disappear. The mostly constant flashback was the image of his family right before he had fought them on the rooftops just one night ago. Those horrified and deadly looks was enough to unsettle even the most emotionless person. It was a horrible image.

His injured shoulder didn't help either. The gash Karai had made had been deeper than he had expected and Donnie hitting it with a bo staff during their fight just made it worse. It felt nothing like when he had injured his hand. That had kinda been an achy pain but this his shoulder was causing him to be in pure agony whenever he moved his arm. So his whole left arm just hung limp at his side. Completely useless.

Several attempts of shutting his eyes later, the turtle eventually gave up on calming himself and just opened his eyes. However, the image in front of him was not what he expected at all and he even leapt back in fright.

In front of him were around fifty foot ninjas. OH SHELL!

Leonardo screamed in agony as one of the ninja's grabbed his bandaged shoulder while another shoved a piece of cloth into his mouth and around his eyes before tying it tightly in the back. Forcing his head to look up at the ceiling. A third ninja bound his hands behind his back, causing him, again, to scream in agony due to his shoulder.

Suddenly, one of the three ninja's pushed him forwards and he blindly stumbled. Leo felt his heart begin to quicken. Not good. Raph was going to kill him.

X-X-X

Raphael sliced his sai across the Foot Ninja's leg before punching him in the head, watching as blood splattered on his reptilian skin as the man fell on the floor unconscious. Donatello seemed engrossed in a battle to his right and he and another ninja were throwing blows at each other with matching ferocity before Donatello managed to hit him in the chin and the ninja also fell unconscious.

It had been quite the fight to get inside the building. The two turtles hadn't noticed there were more ninjas on the right than the left and had taken the right path, ending up being confronted by seemingly millions of foot ninjas. They also hadn't seen the Mikey torture video as the reason the left was so empty was because all the ninjas were watching the turtle's torture. Something ninjas on the right couldn't watch.

Raph spun his sais skillfully (and somewhat tauntingly) as a ninja tried to run him through with his katana, only for the turtle to sidestep out-of-the-way whilst continuing to spin his sais. Raphael laughed before throwing a sai towards the ninja and it wedged itself inside the ninja's shoulder. He fell backwards as blood spluttered out of him.

Raphael walked over to the ninja and yanked his sai free from his shoulder when he felt a hand rest on his own shoulder. The hot-head spun around quickly, sais gripped tightly in his hands when he saw it was Donatello who had touched him. Looking around, Raphael quickly noticed all the ninjas were now either badly injured or unconscious.

"C'mon Raph," Donatello said softly. "Lets go get our brothers."

The red-clad turtle nodded before following his brother to the window and they both hopped inside the building and out of sight.

X-X-X

When the cloth was eventually lifted from his eyes, Leonardo was sure the gash on his arm had started to bleed again. The Foot ninjas had not been very careful with his injury and acted as if the bandages weren't even there. They acted as if they didn't care which, in truth, they didn't. After all, he and the Foot were enemies. Why should they be considerate of his feelings?

It took a moment for Leo's eyes to adjust but when they did, he quickly could make out a silhouette of a figure just behind the sheet of darkness that was in front of him. "Who's there?" Leonardo called shakily.

"L-Leo?" A weak voice stammered. Leonardo knew that voice only too well and to hear it so weak made guilt stab at his soul. He screamed inwardly.

"Mikey!?"


	28. BUSTED!

**Sorry this chapter took so long, but this chapter was a pain to write! I rewrote it three times! I hope you like this version anyways. Also, if you think Leo is a little OCC it was intentional. I wanted him to be like Raphael this chapter (In terms of anger)**

"Mikey?!" Leo exclaimed as he saw the silhouette of his brother shift in the darkness. The eldest turtle couldn't see the features of the youngest reptile, nor could he see the blood that covered Mikey's body which was also seeping out of his many small wounds. All Leonardo could make out was Michelangelo's outline in the darkness. "Are you alright?"

The young terrapin's head was hung low, his chin touching his chest. From what Leo could make out, Mikey's wrists and ankles were bound to the wall opposite him. His hands and feet handing limply like his arms would if his wrists weren't bound. The turtle even looked weak as nothing more than an outline. The thought that in the light, he probably looked a lot worse made the elder cringe. "Yeah," Mikey replied weakly, sounding as if he was inches off fainting. "I'm... okay..."

Leonardo could feel hot tears fill his eyelids. He had done this. He was the reason Mikey was in pain. Why must he had been so stupid as to forget that damn device? Leo promised himself then that he was never going to forgive himself for this. Ever. Even when he lay cold in a grave he wouldn't forgive himself. Damn that Shredder. He was as much to blame as he was and now, that bastard was going down. Leo was going to make sure of that. Leo was taking him to hell and if the blue-clad reptile had to go with him, so be it.

Suddenly, the lights flickered on and Leonardo was nose-to-nose with the Shredder. The spiked-garbed villain had watched the turtles ever since they both woke from unconsciousness. He had just resided in the darkness in the corner of the room which was almost as black as his twisted heart and remained silent so they wouldn't know he was there.

It took a second for Leonardo's eyes to adjust to the sudden light but he didn't blink to help them. Instead, he just stared at the Shredder with a deadly look in his eyes that was rare within the terrapin. Right now, given he wasn't chained to the wall in a similar position to Mikey, he would have killed his foe but the was; so, Leo instead looked at the Shredder with such venom that he might as well be stabbing him. Leo's eyes resembled daggers.

"Ahhh you _turtles _have finally awakened. Nice to see you again, Michelangelo and Leonardo." Shredder began, saying the word 'Turtle' with such disgust for his enemy.

Just the Shredder's voice was enough to trigger the violence and hatred within his heart and that is when Leonardo exploded in a fit of anger."Your a BASTARD, Shredder! How DARE you harm by brother! This has FUCKING nothing to do with him. You are FUCKING lucky I'm chained to the wall, or I would cut off each of your limbs one by one while you are still conscious. DAMN YOU!" Leonardo yelled at his most hated enemy before spitting at his mask. Leonardo wasn't one to use such vile language, that was something Raphael was more accustomed to, but the terrapin was so angry. He couldn't control it.

Part of the anger came from Mikey's state. When the lights had flickered on, there was a split second where his eyes rested on Mikey before he noticed Shredder. The young terrapin was literally covered head-to-toe in blood Not even a small part of him was left untouched by the red substance and it was still, even now, spilling out of his many small wounds (There were actually very few large wounds. Just many, many small cuts, large bruises and a few burns scattered here and there) There was no doubt in Leo's mind that one of his wounds had gotten infected and this just made his anger increase. He needed to get his brother to Donnie. Even if the purple-clad turtle wasn't a medic he came pretty close.

The spiked-garbed enemy reached forward and swatted the spit of his face. "Now, now Leonardo. Your language is atrocious. Do you really want to set a bad example for your brother?" Leonardo scowled as Shredder stepped away from him and walked over to Michelangelo who was so weak that he couldn't even lift his head from his chest. As if trying to annoy Leo further, Shredder rested a finger beneath the turtle's chin and lifted slightly so Mikey's head was near level with Leo's. The elder turtle immediately saw the pained and depressed look that wafted over his face. "Right Michelangelo? Is Leo setting a bad example?"

Fear gripped Michelangelo as his foe stared at him expectedly. Though he couldn't react. He felt too weak too.

Shredder narrowed his eyes before slapping the turtle hard on the cheek, "Right?!" Mikey whimpered as his head slung down by his shoulder so he was no longer looking at Leonardo. Leo felt his fists clench. "Y-yes," Mikey stuttered with a mix of fear and pain in his tone. That just made Leo's anger worse.

Shredder smiled with a twisted grin before turning away. "Good little turtle. Anyways, I have no business with you now, Michelangelo. I am here to discuss matters with your elder brother." Leo felt his anger drop and form into a rock which resided in the pit of his stomach. Leo must have looked worried as Shredder's smile grew. "Ahhhh and the anger disappears just like that. Amazing how worry has that effect."

Leonardo gulped. Oh no, oh no, OH SHELL. He's done for. Doomed. Might as well slit his throat now. Shredder was going to tell Mikey about his crimes, it was obvious and judging by the look on his face; Shredder was more than a little eager for the expression Mikey would have when he found out his brother's identity. Mikey attempted to lift his head which he managed but only slightly. "What are you...talking about..." Mikey croaked, his voice getting quieter the more he spoke.

The terrapin shut his eyes tight and faced the floor in shame as Shredder's laugh echoed in his ears. "Well, Michelangelo, what if I was to say your brother has deceived you?"

"I-I... I would say you were lying... L-Leo wouldn't do that... would you Leo?" Leonardo shut his eyes tighter. Guilt filling his heart. The blue-clad reptile could see Mikey's eyes widening in horror despite being unable to see him. "L-Leo?! Y-you wouldn't... right?"

Shredder laughed again as he rested his hand on the reptile's shoulder. "Michelangelo. Not only has your brother been deceiving you, he's been working for me and has become your newest enemy. He is a criminal!"

There was a pause when Mikey replied with a voice coated with horror. "YOU'RE THE GUY IN THE HOODY!"

**AND THE TRUTH IS REVEALED!**


	29. Orange or Purple and Red?

**Sorry for the late update guys! I feel terrible but Doc manager has stopped working on my computer so I am updating on my friend's computer. Is this happening to anyone else?**

**On an up note I have reached 200 reviews. YES! Thanks so much guys I can't believe I reached 200 and this story isn't even nearing the final chapters yet. Anyways, I don't know when the next update will be but I plan for the next chapter to be the best one yet (I am so excited for you guys to see it)**

Leonardo glanced at the floor, his face filled with shame. This was what he had feared. This was the one thing he wished to avoid when he became a criminal. He had promised himself that his brothers should never find out what he was doing, yet, less than a week later, the youngest and most naïve of his brothers had figured it out. Leo felt like such a failure. Could he do anything right?

"You...you...you bastard!" Michelangelo half-chocked, half-screamed as tears streamed down his face. Leonardo shut his eyes tight and looked away. For the turtle to swear was all you needed to hear to know that he was upset, Mikey was the one to yell at Raph when he swore, for him to swear was more than just an uncommon occurrence.

The youngest reptile's eyes had now started to brim with tears and his pupils had grown so much that his eyes were more black than blue. This all helped make them more piercing.

The turtle was heartbroken. Only an idiot wouldn't be able to see that. Even if you didn't know the orange-clad terrapin you could still see how heartbroken he was and this made Leo feel even worse about what he had done. The look Mikey was giving him was so bad, that it was even worse than what he had feared.

So, if his expression was bad, imagine what was going on in Mikey's head? Dark and betrayed thoughts? Leonardo wasn't totally sure what was going on in his brother's mind but he had a good idea as Mikey was now mid-rant. "Why keep something like this a secret? Why would you deceive us like this? Your own brothers? Why?! Why join the Shredder? Why become a member of the Foot!?" Mikey yelled.

The orange-clad ninja continued his rant, not even seeming to notice the tears that were streaming down both his and Leo's faces. Michelangelo's face was starting to go pinky-red and he started to pant as he started to lose his breath due to his weak state though he didn't slow down his rant. If anything this fuelled his to go on.

When he wanted to, Mikey could harm the people he loved hugely using only his words. The reptile knew exactly what to say to get someone upset or angry and he used his to his advantage. That is why he annoyed Raph so much. He knew how to anger him. This ability was also what made his rant all the more upsetting. Mikey's words were like knives that stabbed Leo with every syllable.

Shredder watched as the brothers stared at each other with such fear and sadness on their faces that it caused him to actually laugh. How he loved to see his enemies in pain. However, the spiked-clad villain had other _business _shall we say, than to laugh at the reptiles. He had something far better in mind...

Shredder walked over to Mikey and stroked his cheek in what would be comforting if it came from someone else, and gave a weak smile. "Awww I know, Michelangelo. It must be difficult to hear." Mikey didn't look at Shredder as he spoke and continued to stare at his elder brother. Mikey knew Shredder spoke the truth, yet, he couldn't bring himself to believe it. Mikey just wished from the bottom of his heart that there was a good reason why Leonardo joined Shredder.

Shredder seemed to notice Mikey wasn't really paying attention, nor was Leo for that matter, so he reached into his pocket and sheathed a small dagger before bringing it to the younger terrapin's throat. Mikey screamed in shock. "Pay attention!" Shredder demanded.

"Back off, Shredder! This has nothing to do with Mikey," Leonardo reminded with a hint of desperation in his tone. Leo was trying his best to keep calm but he was failing miserably. Then again, it would be hard to keep calm if you were living your worst nightmare.

Shredder smiled wickedly, "I know."

Leonardo fixed him a weird look. "You know? Then why kidnap him?"

"To punish you further. This was never about me wanting you to join me, Leonardo. This was all about making your death as slow and painful as possible. You were never supposed to pass the third crime, that is why I sent Karai. Actually there was no power surge device in the first place you would have failed anyways You committing crimes has become boring now. I have other plans for you and Mikey is the key to get you to do it!"

Leonardo felt his heart fall into his stomach. 'Other plans?' Never good. That is normally the que in films for the hero to face his worst nightmare. The blue-clad reptile gulped. "What are you going to do to Mikey?"

Shredder pressed the knife into Mikey's neck but not deep enough to kill the turtle. "Nothing." Shredder smiled. "Unless if you do what I say."

"What do you want? I'll do anything if you leave Mikey alone."

"Anything, Leonardo?"

"Anything."

"Good," Shredder removed the knife from Mikey's neck and the younger turtle took in a deep intake of air as Shredder turned away and walked over to Leonardo. "You see, Leonardo. Besides you and Michelangelo, there are two others who choose to fight against me. Do you know who these others are?"

Leonardo felt his knees weaken and heart begin to pound faster. _Donnie and Raph!  
_

Shredder smiled the worried look on Leo's face. "I see you have guessed who... I want you to beat your brothers until they are almost begging for death or I will, personally, make sure Michelangelo will be nothing more than a cold corpse."

"No..." Leo whispered beneath his shaking breath. Okay, now he was in his living a nightmare. How could he choose between his youngest brother's demise and his other two brothers getting badly hurt at his hand? It was an impossible question to answer. However, if he didn't answer, Shredder would probably kill them all. He had to make a choice.

"What will your answer be, Leonardo?


	30. Sorry, My Brothers

**Sorry for the late update and the shortness but I am ill.**

Leonardo had to make a choice. Fight his brothers or allow Mikey to die. Both would result in Leo dying inside but he had to think what was best for his family and that was causing an injury to two brothers, not allowing Mikey to die. It was possible to recover from injuries, but never from death. However, if he did that, chances of him being forgiven would be more than just a little unlikely. Leo couldn't see himself being forgiven... ever. Not that he wanted that. He felt that he didn't deserve it after all he'd done.

"I-I..." Leo stuttered as he continued to null over his options. He could try to challenge the Shredder but if he did that and lost (which was likely) chances were all his brothers would be killed and that was a risk he was not going to make. Too risky.

So, there was only one option really.

Leonardo sighed with defeat as he uttered the words he never, even in his worst nightmares, believed he would have to utter. "Fine... I'll fight by brothers..."

"Such brave words for such a weak turtle," Shredder commented as Mikey shook his head in shock and horror.

"What the shell Leo! Do you honestly think you can trust him? This is the Shredder you're dealing with! You know, the crazy dude who is, like, mental. How do you know you can trust him?..." Mikey ranted, heaving as he tried to regain his breath.

"I don't trust him Mikey," Leo admitted, cutting the orange-clad turtle off. His tone sounded so dark... defeated... broken... and it scared Michelangelo.

No matter what Leo did, Mikey couldn't help but look up to him. He was like his guardian. His protector. Even now as Leo was being held captive by the Shredder, much like him, he was willing to fight two of his brothers to keep Mikey safe. No matter how angry Mikey was with him, it was impossible for Mikey not to admire Leo. He was so brave. So strong... That is why the broken tone bothered the orange-clad ninja so much. Leo was still brave but his strength was long gone.

"But if I don't strike a deal with him, we'll all die. You, me, Raph, Donnie... Shredder will kill us all. I am not saying I trust him as I don't, but I can't watch you die knowing that I may have been able to save you. I can't watch you all die before my eyes, Mikey. I have had nightmares about you all dying for many days and even then, I thought my heart was getting ripped out of my chest. If that was to happen for real... I don't know how I would feel...All I know is that there is a larger chance of us all surviving if I make a deal with Shredder."

Leonardo turned to his enemy with a look of sheer determination. He would fight his brothers for Mikey. "If you let Mikey go unharmed and release him then you have a deal."

"Very well." Shredder smiled smugly as two ninjas came into the room and unbuckled both turtles' cuffs, freeing them from the wall, before putting on a different set on each of their wrists. "But I am not going to release him until after the fight and only if I believe you tried. Me and my ninjas will be watching this fight with observant eyes. Don't even think of trying to fool us with some trick."

"Don't worry," Leonardo replied darkly as the ninjas pushed the him and Mikey out of the room. "I wouldn't risk it."

X-X-X

Donatello panted heavily as the Foot ninja flopped onto the floor besides him. Raphael, who had just taken out the last few ninjas in the hallway, walked over to his younger brother and put his hands on his knees. "Ain't 'ad a workout like this in ages, eh Donnie?" Donatello could only nod.

"Me too," Raphael laughed. "All this worryin' aint ben' doin' us any favours."

"No kidding," Donnie heaved."

The two middle brothers had gone through hell the last ten minutes. Countless hordes of Foot Ninja's had attacked them the second they had set foot in the building and they'd been forced to fight all of them. It seemed the waves of enemies would never end. Ninja after ninja, they all kept coming even faster than the speed Donatello and Raphael were taking out. Causing them to constantly be on the infamous defence.

However, the two turtles were smart. Donatello had come up with an idea to slam large groups of ninjas into the walls to stun them, to give the turtles more time to knock them out. It worked well. Yet, it was a tiring action to constantly complete again and again.

Raphael flexed his arms as he glanced at the doors by his sides. While fighting groups of Foot Ninja, the turtles had also been searching the rooms for any sign of their brothers' whereabouts. However, all the rooms they'd searched so far had been empty.

"Ready Don?"

"Yeah." With a heavy sigh, Donatello straightened his posture and joined his brother's side. Donatello was more than a little concerned about Mikey and Leo at this point. Donatello thought he and Raph would have found something entailing their whereabouts by now. Yet, they were no closer to finding them than when they had originally gone inside.

The brothers walked down the hallway quietly, treading silently to avoid attention-getting drawn to their position and to help them hear for any voices coming from one of the rooms. But there was no sound.

"Where do you think they are?" Donatello asked as they walked up the stairs of the building. They knew where they were now. They were one floor beneath the main room.

"_Closer than you think_," The two brothers froze as the voice rattled their ears. They knew that voice. It was the voice of their eldest brother, Leonardo. Yet, at the same time, it sounded twisted. Very twisted. Dark. It was almost like all happiness had been sucked out of the voice. Yet, it didn't sound sad. It was like monotone and was quite chilling in a bad sort of way.

The two brothers whirled around to find Leo standing behind them with his katana sheathed. He had a determined look in his eyes. Almost menacing. Yet, there was a glint of sadness in them. "Leo!" The two brothers exclaimed happily in union.

Leo stared at his katana. "I am sorry for this my brothers," He whispered. Raph raised his brow.

"Eh?"

However, Leonardo didn't reply as the sword was thrust through the air. Aiming for Donatello's knee...

**Okay...this isn't the chapter I was most excited for. Sorry about that. But I am ill at the moment and I want to put everything I can into the next chapter (it is actually my favourite planned chapter of the entire story) I have rewritten it three times and each time, it is not as good as I want it to be especially since it is a fight (which I am horrible at writing for)**

**Anyways I hope you liked this chapter.**


	31. Brother VS Brother

**Wow this chapter took forever and is no where near as grand as I wanted it to be, but let's just say I haven't been having a very good week and this was the best I could draw up. I am still pretty happy though. It was fun to write.**

**Hope you like this chapter though.**

Donatello saw the blade coming for his knee just in time before it hit him. Alarmed, tired and unprepared, the purple-clad turtle leaped into the air before he landed with a stumble several metres away. "Wha' tha' shell, Leo!" Raphael yelled in shock as both younger brother stared at Leonardo with looks of horror.

It pained Leonardo to see the confused looks his brothers were giving him. However, he promised to stay looking emotionless. Showing his emotions would only help him lose this fight.

It may not make much sense but Leonardo wanted to treat his brothers as if they were just some normal criminals. Weak, helpless criminals. Leonardo would never kill a criminal but would hit one so this mental image helped him fight. It also helped him not to hesitate in his attacks through guilt, as, if he was ever to hesitate in striking in one of his brothers, Shredder would kill Mikey like he had said he would. He and many Foot Ninjas were watching this fight through security cameras and had sworn that they would be looking closely at his actions. Leo couldn't hesitate.

Ignoring his younger brother's yells, Leonardo advanced forward and tried to strike a blow on Donatello's side. Judging by Donnie's dodge for the first attack, he was somewhat tired. It would be easier for Leo to take out the purple-clad reptile first and then deal with Raphael before Donnie could regain his energy. It would also be the best time to do it since Raphael seemed too stunned to do anything. Including fight.

It was a very successful tactic.

The blow aimed for Donatello's side caused him to twist awkwardly to avoid it as he took a while to react. This lead Donnie to fall backwards and land flat on his shell.

Normally an attack like that wouldn't be enough to cause Donatello to fall but he was extremely tired. All this work trying to get into the headquarters had been too much for the younger reptile. He was putting too much strain on his untrained body. Donatello didn't have a high enough stamina to fight Leo considering he had just fought a couple hundred Foot Ninjas. Only Raphael and Leo, who had trained the most, would be able to keep going after fighting that many people. Both elder brothers realised this soon after Donatello had fallen.

It looked, to Raphael, that he was going to have to fight alone or at least until Donatello regained his energy. Considering he hadn't even tried to get up yet.

Raphael tightened his grip on the handles of his sais as he walked over to Leonardo who had the same solemn look on his face that he had worn ever since Raphael had first seen him minutes ago. Anger bubbled in the pit of Raphael's soul. What in shell was Leo doing? Fighting them like this and taking Donnie out when he was clearly at a disadvantage. Where had Leo's honour gone? Where had his sanity gone? Had Shredder done something to him? Had Leo suddenly wished to change his alliances? The last question seemed the most likely since Leonardo didn't seem to care whether the two younger siblings were hurt or not. He didn't even flinch when Donnie hit the floor from exhaustion. What the shell was going on?

Leonardo grabbed the hilt of his katana which he had sheathed and walked over to Raphael. Leo did his best to avoid looking at Raphael directly. If he did, his cover of being emotionless may fall. It had taken everything he had not to rush over to Donatello when he had fallen. The purple-clad turtle looked terrible. If Leo was to look at Raphael directly now and he looked at him with daggers in his eyes, Leo would certainly falter in his fighting. Something that could cause Shredder to kill Mikey.

Once the two brothers were opposite each other, Leonardo kneeled down and rested a single hand on the floor whilst gripping his katana his free hand. Splinter had once told the turtle brothers that if you wanted to fight with someone one-on-one then get into this position. Raphael would surely know this gesture by now considering how many years the brothers had used it.

It took Raphael meer moments to realise what Leo was doing and with betrayed anger swirling inside him, the red-clad turtle unsheathed his sais and he too got into the kneeling position. "Wanna' fight then, Leo," Raphael said darkly. Leo continued to stare at the floor. "LOOK AT ME!" Raphael barked.

Leonardo felt a stunning emotional pain shoot through him. That dark tone... that frightening rage... it was rare that even Raphael went to such a high level of anger. It seemed that Leo would not have an easy fight. This wasn't like the rooftop fight the pair had the other day; Raphael knew what the blue-clad turtle's weakness was. He was no longer at a disadvantage.

The blue-clad ninja refused to meet Raphael in the eyes. However, he did murmur something to his brother. Something that took Raphael aback. "I am sorry about this Raphael, I really am. However, I must harm you and Donnie. There is no escape for either of us. You are going down." With that, Leonardo sprang forward with his katana drawn back, ready to strike...

X-X-X

Raphael jumped to his feet as the katana plunged into the floor, splinters flying as Leo pulled it free. Taking this as a chance to attack, Raphael aimed a sai at Leo's knee with a very precise aim only for Leonardo to jump backwards, doing a backflip mid-air, and land perfectly several metres away totally unscathed. Clutching his second sai tighter, Raphael leaped forward and grabbed the shoulders of the blue-clad reptile before he attempted to tackle for him. However, Leo was quick and not consumed by his emotions and managed to grab hold of his younger brother's arm and swing him into a concrete wall.

Feeling angry with a mix of dizzy, Raph ducked as a shrunken aimed for his shoulder whizzed past his right ear. Hitting the wall before falling weakly on the ground. Damn. Leo almost had a good an aim as he did. Leaping to his feet, Raphael ran, picked up his sai from the ground, and headed towards his brother; his face red as his rage started to engulf him.

Leo watched as Raphael ran towards him so consumed by rage that his actions came out reckless and careless. _'I am sorry for angering you, Raphael,' _Leonardo thought sadly as he easily managed to side-step out-of-the-way of the wayward Raphael and trip him up using his leg. Though he was acting emotionless, fighting his brother was killing him inside as a light way of putting it.

Raphael landed flat on his stomach as he tripped over Leonardo's leg. He was visibly shaking as his anger reached amazingly high levels and you could almost see smoke coming out of his nose and steam coming out of his ears. _'Shell!' _

The red-clad turtle did a backward roll and landed expertly on his feet, glaring at Leonardo with daggers in his eyes. "Wha' the_ fuck, _Fearless?" He yelled, venom in his voice. "First you just walk in 'ere and 'urt Donnie, now you are trying to 'urt me? HAYY!" Raphael fell to the floor again before he could finish his sentence, this time with Leo on top of him as he held the red-clad reptile's shoulders down. That just angered Raphael further as he squirmed frantically beneath his brother's weight.

"Don't call me Fearless, Raph!" Leonardo screamed with a voice twisted with agony. If Raphael didn't know better he would say his elder brother was going through torture. Leo was even cringing he seemed so consumed with pain. "Just..."

Raphael suddenly kicked out his legs and threw Leonardo off him before quickly getting to his feet again. Leo didn't move; he just remained on the floor as he started to sob. The red-clad turtle wasn't sure how to react to this. One moment Leonardo was expressionless, easily harming Donatello. The next, he was apologising. Then he went back to emotionless and now look at him. He was crying his reptilian heart out. But why?

Raphael slowly walked over to his brother, weary of how he would react to his company. Would he lash out again? He was unsure. One thing Raph quickly realised was that Leo was murmuring cuss words and words filled with disgust beneath his breath. Were they directed at him? or himself? Who were the words directed at?

Raphael kneeled besides the blue-masked terrapin and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. His once blazing anger now nothing more than a small, flickering flame. "Are you okay, Leo?"

Leonardo glanced up at his brother with the area around his eyes and cheeks tainted red and tear tracks covering the whole bottom half of his face. He let out a sniffle before he looked apologetically at his younger brother. Oh how he hated what he was going to do next. "I-I... I'm sorry Raph. I am really sorry for this."

"Hayy, it okay bro-" Leonardo suddenly brought back his fist and punched Raphael flat-out in the face, his brother falling limply on the floor soon after. "Sorry, Raphael." Leonardo mumbled as he grabbed Raphael by his mask tails and started to pull him towards the door which led to the throne are.

However, Leonardo forgot something rather important then. He forgot his second younger brother was still conscious and watching as Leo pulled Raphael into the Shredder's clutches...


	32. Instincts of the Rat

**I have caught a bug. Brilliant. That is why this chapter is mostly about Splinter drinking tea. My thoughts are a little spaced at the moment.**

**I hope you like this anyways and sorry if there are any mistakes. Checking for mistakes is not something I am good at when I am ill. By the way, thanks for all your reviews you guys are AWESOME. **

The grey haired rat sat on the floor with a stressed look on his face as he tried with all his might to mediate. He could not. Worry and concern for his sons ate at his mind and kept forcing him out of meditation and to focus on all his negative feelings.

So much had gone wrong within the family the last few days. First, Leonardo started acting strangely, then Leonardo's emotions had attacked him, then Michelangelo was kidnapped and now, all four of his sons were gone without any calls or messages through the shell-cell to tell him what was going on. It was at that moment the elderly rat deeply regretted not going with his sons to get back Michelangelo. He was such a fool.

Tired with worry and concern, the rat gave up on mediating and walked into the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets to the left. Inside the cabinet were a few opened boxes of cereal, gone-off tins of baked beans, some red coloured medicine; an empty chocolate wrapper, a small container containing a small amount of herbal tea and a packet of biscuits.

Splinter grabbed the herbal tea container from the drawer before he closed it using his elbow. Setting the container aside, he put the kettle on and watched as the water started to boil.

This was the mutant rat's routine for when he got stressed. The herbal tea helped him to relax and he hoped that it would help calm his thoughts. If it did not, chances were the rat would be venturing to the Foot Headquarters out of worry. He had actually done that before. Once the water had finished boiling, the rat prepared the tea and found himself staring at the liquid when he did eventually sit down in the living room. He was hesitant to drink. His nerves kept putting him off.

There was much conflict going on inside the rat's head. His fatherly instincts kept telling him that he should go find his sons and that was also the side he wanted to listen to the most. He was the turtles' father after all and he loved them all dearly. However, there was another side also. His instincts as a sensei. They kept telling him that he should leave his sons alone and that they would be fine as they were very skilled fighters. Splinter knew he _should _listen to his instincts as a sensei however his nerves were killing him. If they kept growing like this, his fatherly instincts would take control and he would be outside the Foot headquarters' front door before he could even say 'My sons'

Fighting his unappetizing feelings, Splinter brought the cup to his lips and swallowed a small amount of the tea. He suddenly felt sick afterwards. What was he doing? His sons were in danger, yet, he was here sipping tea. Why hadn't he gone with his sons when he had the chance? He wouldn't be having this mental debate if he had.

Slamming the mug onto the table, Splinter stood up and walked over to his cane which he picked up; giving it a little twirl in one hand. Sighing, he made his choice.

He was going after his sons.

X-X-X

Shredder stared at the stirring Raphael with a somewhat shocked expression. It had brought him great surprise when Leonardo had gone to such lengths as to act sad with his younger brother then knock him out. It was so unlike Leonardo to deceive his younger brothers in such a heartless manner. It also surprised him when Leo didn't rush to his third youngest brother, Donatello, after he had hurt him. To add to that, since Donatello was weak with tiredness, Leo had also gone against honour. Boy Shredder had changed the eldest turtle for the worst and this brought much joy to the spiked-clad villain. His plan to break Leonardo was working superbly.

Raphael's eyes fluttered open as he ran his three-fingered hand weakly down his face, letting out a groan of annoyance and pain. The hit to his face had been enough to rock his brain and knock him out, however, the same blazing anger that had dimmed when he had seen his upset brother was now back and starting to gain in height. '_Damn Leo. The bastard.'_ Raphael thought angrily as his wooziness from being unconscious started to wear away.

Where was Leonardo? He was sitting on the floor of the massive room, his face creased with concentration as pondered on what he had done. His thoughts clouded with guilt. If he had finger nails, he would have chewed them so much that they would have fallen off his green fingers.

What had he done?

He had deceived his brother?

Hurt his brothers.

He was lower than dirt.

Lower than the Shredder.

What had he done?

These were all examples of what the eldest turtle was thinking.

Donatello watched all this with concerned eyes as he hid behind a plant just inside the room. How Shredder had forgotten about him he was not sure but he guessed it was because the Shredder had always hated Raphael with a passion. To have him lying limp at his feet was certainly going to make him forget a minor detail like a third brother he held no particular grudge over. That was what Donatello thought was the reason anyway. Another reason could have been that the Shredder may have thought that he'd been locked away in another room by one of the Foot Ninjas.

Whatever was going through Shredder's mind regarding his capture, Donnie was sure that he would soon realise that he had never been captured. He had to work fast. He had to get his brothers out of this building without anyone's knowledge.

Since Raphael was the centre of Shredder's attention and he did not know where Mikey was, the first turtle Donnie decided to save was Leonardo. Even though he had beaten both himself and Raphael up, he was sure there was a good reason. He knew Leonardo well enough to know he wouldn't betray them willingly. There had to be a reason. Donatello trusted Leonardo. More than Raphael and Mikey did.

So, Donatello's plan was officially in motion. He was going to get his brothers out.


	33. Putting Feelings Aside

Donatello slowly poked his head from around the plant, glancing around the room for any person that could see him. Unluckily, there were many Foot ninjas in the room now cheering over their master, Shredder's, recent victory. Never before had Donatello been more annoyed by the common Foot ninjas. Though he had recovered much of his energy he was still very tired from the recent battle with them. He just wanted to get his brothers and get out of the building. Why must the Foot ninjas be such a nuisance and make this nearly impossible?

The purple-clad turtle rolled his eyes in frustration as he realised that getting Mikey and Raphael out of the building would be near impossible. Even if he did manage to get Leo unseen, Raphael was the centre of attention; especially now that he was regaining consciousness. Getting someone unseen when everyone is staring at them is not possible even if you are a ninja and Splinter is your sensei. Donatello had no idea where Mikey was also so getting Mikey would be impossible as well. The purple-clad reptile was not having a good time. Lucky thing he was a thinker so thinking didn't bother him. Mikey would be in a nightmare if he was in his position at the moment.

Peeking out from behind the plant again, Donatello prepared to make his move... _One... Two... THREE!_ Donatello thought inwardly before he bounded out from behind the plant and hid behind a nearby pillar as a Foot Ninja turned around. Some of the Foot ninjas were walking around the room almost mindlessly incase someone tried to enter and take the reptiles. The others were near Raphael. If he could get past the ninjas who were walking around without alerting the ninjas staring at Raphael, he could maybe manage to get Leonardo into a hiding spot without being seen.

Bolting over to hide behind another pillar, Donatello's eyes rested on Leo. He seemed in deep thought and, judging by his facial expression, was very guilty over something. Donatello could easily guess it was over him hurting himself and Raphael. It made sense considering Leo would never harm anyone of his brothers willingly. Shredder must have messed with his head.

Hiding behind another plant, Donatello could easily reach Leo now and quickly ducked down into a crouch and headed for Leo's side. "Leo?" Donatello spoke up once he reached his side. Leonardo glanced up with a shocked expression.

"Donnie-"

"We have to go. I am getting you and the others out of here." Donatello stated, practically dragging Leonardo behind a plant. It was rare that Donnie was this assertive, besides when it comes to science. It was Leo's job to be assertive in his eyes. He was the eldest and his leader after all. However, considering Leo had just attacked him, he would be lying if he said he wasn't wary. It would be better for Donnie to dish out orders for now. At least until Leo calmed down a bit as he was clearly not in the best mental state. Donatello was unsure what was going on in his elder brother's head in truth.

Leo yanked his arm free from Donatello's grip before glaring at him. "What the shell, Don? Did you just see what I just did to you and Raph? Just leave me alone and get Mikey and Raph before you get caught!" Donnie leaned backwards a little; like his brothers words had hit him backwards but his face remained emotionless. After a few slow moments, Donatello's expression became a demanding one.

"Shut the shell up, Leo!" Donatello whispered with a threatening tone. "I know Shredder is messing with your head. However, if you're going to be like that I won't hesitate to slam you into that wall over there. So, I suggest you shut your trap and follow me." Donatello normally would be a lot calmer when talking with a brother who was being awkward but he just wanted to leave. He felt tired and was sure Splinter was probably worrying himself sick. Keeping a level head wasn't at the top of the list of his priorities. Plus, Donatello was feeling frustrated with Shredder for making Leo so awkward.

Leonardo stared at his second younger brother with a shocked expression. He couldn't believe this. Was he going to have to fight Donnie again to keep Mikey safe? But Donatello had snuck here from... wherever he had come from. Maybe he wouldn't have to fight him after all. If he could think up a plan that it to stay hidden from the Foot maybe he could escape with Don and the rest of his brothers...

Leonardo sighed, "I am sorry, Don," Leo whispered in defeat. He still didn't forgive himself for his actions, however, he could put his feelings aside for now if it meant getting out of the building without having to fight his brothers again. He was still being eaten alive with guilt after the first two incidents with fighting them. He wasn't sure if he could handle a third time.

Donatello rested a gentle hand on his shoulder. This was a gesture Splinter had taught the terrapin brothers to use as a sign of forgiveness. Donnie smiled, "Don't worry about it Leo," He said. "If I were you, I would be thinking up ways to apologise to Raphael. He may not be as forgiving as me."

"Good point," Leonardo smiled with a somewhat forced smile. He needed to hide his true guilty feelings for now from his brother. Though, there was no doubt in his mind that these feeling would arise again later. He needed to focus at the mission at hand.

"Hayy, don't thank me yet. I need to get you all out of here first."

"You have a plan?" Leo asked.

Donatello nodded, "Yes, but it is risky."

"Okay, well what is your 'plan'?"

"Well..."

**Sorry that this is such a small chapter (I normally write small chapters but this is literally just over 1,000 words. That is small even for me) But this chapter was a grief to write. I couldn't think of a way to make it longer without going into the saving Raph and Mikey parts. **


	34. Grumpy Mikey and the Emotional Stabs

**Before this chapter I have a question. Would you prefer it if I combined some of the chapters so the chapters are longer and there are less of them. I think it makes for an easier read. Let me know in the reviews.**

"No way!" Leonardo objected in a dismissive voice as he shook his head. What Donatello was proposing was more than just a little risky. He was pretty much planning to put them both in the face of danger. That is, if they did even a small thing wrong. "This is mad, Don. How are we going to pull this off?"

"I did say it was a risky plan," Donatello reminded his elder brother, a playful smirk on his face. He only smirked like that when he was confident. That smirk was commonly seen when he had come up with a new invention, figured out a way to repair a piece of a machinery or found a way to improve one of his older inventions. Though, it was uncommon that Donnie possessed that smirk when he came up with a plan. It was hardly his area of expertise, creating plans. Though he was the second best at it in the group of brothers.

Leonardo snorted. "'Risky plan!?' You are pretty much walking right into the Shredder's clutches..."

"What choice do we have, Leo? You are the only one who knows where Mikey is. You don't have time to rescue Raph as well as Mikey so I might as well do it. Besides, Raph is not in the best of moods with you just attacking him. Mikey should be in a better mood with you. You haven't done anything to him."

_'Shell! He doesn't know about me being a criminal, does he?' _Leonardo suddenly realised. That would explain why Donnie didn't think Mikey would be mad at him. He didn't know about Mikey finding out he was a criminal, since he didn't know about Leonardo working for the Shredder. That also explained why Donnie was neither angry or upset. The only reason Donatello wasn't angry or upset over Leonardo fighting him was because he trusted his eldest brother. No doubt if he found out Leonardo had committed crimes under his nose, this trust would be broken and he would start to resent him. Just like Michelangelo.

However, should he tell him about him being a criminal? There was no doubt in Leonardo's mind that Mikey would eventually tell Donnie about Leo's betrayal to them, so, it would be better to tell him now than to keep deceiving him and this would possibly lesson how upset Donatello would be when he heard the truth. Then again, if Donatello was to get angry and go off on his own to save Raphael and Michelangelo, that could put him in danger. Was that a risk he was willing to take?

Leo never did get to make a choice before Donatello leapt to his feet, staff in hand. In front of him were three Foot Ninjas who were looking at him with wide eyes, clearly surprised to see him. They'd been spotted. Brilliant. Good thing this was part of the plan. "LEO GO!" Donatello yelled at he knocked two of the ninjas off their feet. "I will get Raph, now go!"

Taking out his katanas and nodding his head towards his brother reluctantly, he turned on his heel and bolted out the Shredder's main room. His mask tails flying behind him as his speed increased. The plan was for Donatello to get Raphael and the pair of them to hold of the Foot Ninjas while Leo got Mikey. The risky part of the plan, however, was that there were many Foot Ninjas and the Shredder in the same room as the younger turtles. Even with their combined ability, Donatello and Raphael were still statistically outmatched. They didn't need to beat them though. They just needed to buy Leo time to Mikey.

Skidding as he turned another corner, Leonardo listened as he started to hear the footsteps of the Foot Ninjas trailing him. He always knew that some of the Foot would try to follow him but how was he going to get rid of them? Slowing slightly, Leo grabbed the handle of a nearby door and pushed down. The door freed itself from the lock. Waiting a moment for the Foot to get closer, Leo then pushed the door with all his might and it flew off its hinges and slammed into the group of Foot Ninjas. Sending them to the ground. That worked better than expected.

Not one to waste time, Leo proceeded to run down the hall until he found the door he had seen Mikey be taken into before they got separated because of Leo being forced to fight Donatello and Raphael. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself for an angry Mikey. Mikey was dangerous when he was angry. He once got both Donnie and Raphael pinned, at the same time, when Raph had broken his PS3. What a mad day that was.

Hovering his hand over the handle, the blue-clad turtle closed his eyes before tapping the handle gently and the door sprung open. Wow the Shredder actually left the door open? He was losing his touch. Pushing the door a little more, Leonardo entered the room but immediately widened his eyes and gasped at what he saw. His baby brother was handcuffed to a metal pipe and all around him was straw. However, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the all the straw was set alight. Shredder hadn't kept to his promise to spare Mikey's life. What an ass.

"MIKEY!" Leonardo yelled, choking on the smoke. The room was quickly filling with the gas. What was Shredder thinking? He could burn the building down by doing this. Since when was he so reckless? He heard his brother cough on smoke before he mumbled something in reply but it was too weak for him to make out what he said.

Without hesitation or consideration for his own safety, Leo bounded through the flames and winced as they burnt his reptilian skin. He didn't hesitate though. If anything the pain spurred him to speed up. He could only imagine what Mikey was going through.

Leonardo reached Mikey's side within seconds before coughing as smoke proceeded to fill his lungs. His whole body burned by the surrounding flames and to Leo, he felt like he had died and gone to the fiery inferno called Hell. Then again, it was kind of fitting since he believed he deserved Hell after his latest actions. That seemed to take away from the painful experience a little. "Stay very still, Mikey," The terrapin told his younger before as he steadied his katana. "I am going to try to break your cuffs."

"L-leave... me alone..." Mikey choked. "Yo-you... have done enough damage." Leonardo felt like he'd been stabbed and suddenly felt more pain than what the flames could ever do to him. His brother would rather die than accept help from him. That really was a blow to his unsteady emotions. Nevertheless, Leo still wasn't going to leave his brother. Even if he had to drag Mikey out of the room he wasn't going to let him die as long as he could stop it.

Leonardo carefully stabbed down on the chain of the handcuffs and twisted his katana and the chain slowly started to break apart before snapping into two. Brilliant. "C'mon Mikey," The eldest brother encouraged the latter as he forced his arm over his shoulders.

"Piss off, Leo."

Feeling tears prick the corners of his eyes at the comment, Leonardo ran through the flames and out the door. Mentally preparing himself for the rant his younger brother was about to give him and the scene that would he was going to meet in the main room where Donatello and Raphael were now fighting. He hoped they were okay, but then again, with his luck they were probably dead now...

**A grumpy Mikey... a side we all know is there inside Mikey but is only ever shown in fanfiction ;) **

**I hope you liked this update and thanks SO MUCH for all the support.**


	35. Don't Say That

***NOTE* This chapter was reuploaded due to issues involving alert messages. Nothing in the chapter is different.**

**I have noticed I have got far less reviews these last few chapters and I am feeling a little confused. Have these last few chapters not been very ****good? Even if that's the case, let me know so I can work on it. I am a little worried fewer people are enjoying this story... **

**After, yet, another review about short chapters. Next chapter should be longer... or at least I will try to make it longer... Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

Leonardo sat Mikey down besides one of the door frames in the next hall before accessing his younger brothers wounds. The youngest turtle was almost completely covered in bruises and cuts from his torture sessions and fresh burns now joined them. Though, these burns weren't very bad. The wounds were worse. The youngest turtle was silent as his elder brother as he examined him, being as difficult as could without actually harming his brother. He just refused to do anything for him. Even when Leonardo asked for Mikey to twist his arm for him to check the other side he refused and Leo had to do move it himself.

After a while, though, he finally spoke. "Why Leo?" Mikey said accusingly with a sufficient amount less anger in his voice as Leo finished accessing his brother. It was strange. The young turtle didn't seem very angry now. He sounded broken-hearted; like how someone might sound if their partner had cheated or had just broken up with them. There was still anger within him, but the love Mikey felt for his elder brother whom he deeply respected caused his heart to sting and throat to create a lump.

"Why? Why the Shredder. Of all people, why him?" Mikey slammed his fist into the floor, causing the ground to shake a little. Leonardo jumped at his brother's surge of aggression. Mikey wasn't the type to hit things when angered, he was the kind to become awkward. Leonardo waited for his little brother to continue, mentally preparing himself for a severe mental beating.

But he never got one.

Instead, Mikey started to sob.

They were quiet sobs, but heartfelt sobs nevertheless.

Leonardo tilted his head a little. His heart was still throbbing from the comments Mikey had made earlier and to know Mikey also felt saddened shocked him. Leo knew he was furious, but sad... Mikey wiped the tears away roughly that had started to drizzle down his cheeks. "I don't understand it, Leo," He gulped. "I trust you. You are my brother. My leader. One of my best friends, but... Shredder... why did you join _him? _Him of all people? I want to understand, I really do. Just... please explain to me why you joined him, I need to know."

Leonardo gave Michelangelo a pained look. It was upsetting so see his brother feeling so betrayed, especially when he was the cause. All those days guilt had racked his mind when he had completed the crimes; he would combine it all into one massive emotion attack and make himself live through it if Mikey would not have to feel so betrayed. One heart-broken brother was far worse than the guilt he had lived through in Leo's opinion and that had been horrendous. The very memory of it made him cringe.

Leonardo looked down as his held back tears built up inside his eyes. He had become so much weaker emotionally since the start of all this. Normally, thinks like this would upset him deeply inwardly but he would never show it. Now, however, he was just inches away from crying in front of his baby brother. '_Keep it together, Leo,' _Leonardo thought inwardly. _'Not in front of Mikey... don't break down in front of Mikey...'_

So, Leonardo bit his lip and slowly, the tears made its way back into his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Leonardo prepared himself to answer Mikey's plea. He was unsure how his baby brother would react to the truth and he did not expect to be forgiven. He didn't deserve it did he? He had deceived, lied and betrayed his brother and that was unforgivable.

Straightening his posture to prepare, Leo opened his mouth slowly and began his tale.

"It happened a couple of nights ago, when I joined him that is," Leonardo began, causing Mikey to look up."The Foot had acted strangely and I became curious and followed one. Though I was foolish and got captured. Shredder took me here and then told me to join him and commit crimes for him or he would harm you. I don't know why, but I just suddenly had this horrible feeling that he knew our home's location. This was later proved to have been correct..." Leo and Mikey grimaced slightly at the memory of Mikey's capture.

"Anyways, so I agreed to help him and he warned me to remain loyal to him or he would harm you and since then, I have committed three crimes for him. Though, the third one failed and that is why you are here. This is my fault and I-" Leonardo was suddenly thrown back as Mikey wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tightly, like he was afraid to let go. Leo sat there, taken aback, as he stared wide-eyed at Mikey who sobbed into his shoulder.

Moments passed by slowly before either of them spoke, but eventually, Michelangelo managed to croak out a few things as he sobbed. "I knew it!" He cried, hugging his brother tighter as his crying became more hysterical. His mask was now drenched with tears but he didn't seem bothered. "I fucking knew it! I knew you would never... would never betray me!"

The blue-clad terrapin just stared at his younger brother was shock. "What are you talking about Mikey? I did betray you. I joined the Shred-"

"NO YOU DIDN'T! You had no choice but to join him. How dare you say you betrayed me, no, betrayed us all! You would have betrayed us if you had done nothing! You did this to protect us, Leo, yet, you still feel bad. You strange turtle. I am so sorry for not guessing this sooner! I always knew, deep down, that you would only join Shredder for a good reason."

Michelangelo released his brother before smiling at him weakly and strangely enough, Leo smiled back weakly too. However, this smile was unlike his other smiles from the past few days. This smile was genuine. "I am sorry too, Mike," Leo murmured as he continued to smile at his brother.

Mikey stood up and unsheathed his nunchucks, whirling them around in his two hands. His wounds did seem to bother him, however, he was clearly trying to not look bothered. "C'mon dude," Mikey said in his usual happy tone. "Lets go get Don and Raph!"

**Hello happy Mike! Nice to see ya' again.**


	36. Chaos and the Injured

**Hello again. I tried to make this update quick for all the problems with the last chapter. This chapter is also dedicated to Vertical Fall and TMNTEmi who informed me of the issues last chapter. Again, sorry about that. **

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and it makes up for the problems last chapter.**

"You are not fighting like that!" commented Leonardo as he stood up, glancing at Mikey with a somewhat worried expression. Understandable for the blue clad-turtle. After all, his brother was badly wounded; yet, he somehow still had his fighting spirit. That was Mikey all right.

Mikey scowled at his elder brother. "C'mon Leo. I am fine! See!" Michelangelo whirled his nunchucks around skillfully in his hands for emphasis, however, when Leo nudged him on the shoulder he fell backwards and landed flat on his shell with a grunt.

Leo gave his brother a weak smile. "Yeah, you look fine. Here, let me carry you," Leonardo kneeled down and prepared for his brother to hop on his back. Michelangelo was reluctant at first, further stating he was fine and could fight. However, Leo was persistent and managed to get his younger brother to agree to let him carry him. Once he was on his back, the two turtles made their way down the hallway, discussing the fire they had just escaped.

"Do you think it will set fire to the rest of the building or the Foot Ninjas will put it out before that happens?" Mikey asked as they rounded another corner. Deep down, Michelangelo was very scared about those cursed flames. They almost burnt him to death. He had a feeling he would have a horrible fear of fire after this little incident.

Leonardo shrugged. "I honestly don't know. If Shredder had any sense he would ask to have it put out. Then again, if he thinks you are still in there then he might want to dash away any chance of you surviving by burning the building. He would be willing to do that, I am sure."

The pair went around another corner and now, they stood in front of the main room's door. The vast red door, sealed shut. That made Leonardo's heart begin to beat faster. It had been left open when he had left. What if his brothers had gotten captured and Shredder was holding them captive inside that room? What if he had killed them? What if...

"LEO!" Michelangelo yelled into his elder brother's ears, causing Leonardo to instantly fall out of his thoughts.

"What, Mikey?" The latter replied, rubbing his ears. Boy his brother could yell loudly...

"I just asked if we were going in?"

The katana wielder glanced up at the door before murmuring a hasty 'Yeah' in response to his brother. Drawing in a deep breath, Leonardo rested his hands on the door and readied himself to push it open. Yet, as the seconds passed, Mikey noticed there was a problem.

Leo was shaking.

It was such a rare thing for the Fearless leader to shake. It was so rare that Michelangelo used to believe that Leonardo was unable to. However, in truth, Leo had done an awful lot of shaking lately; breaking his calm and brave appearance. Just how much had committing crimes and lying to his brothers hurt him? Before, Mikey hadn't thought about it. Yet, to see his brother in such a weak state made him think of this question.

Leonardo sucked in another deep breath before he closed his eyes and pushing the twin doors open.

X-X-X

The main room of the Foot Headquarters was a chaotic sight. Foot Ninjas ran around, weapons unsheathed as they tried to strike the two middle brothers. Only to fail and fall to the ground. Blood splitters were on the walls with limp bodies laying leant against them, probably dead but defiantly unconscious. The rug beneath all their feet was torn and ruined. The decorations like the unlit torches, broken and smashed on the floor.

The two middle reptiles fought the many Foot Ninjas with an almost frightening fury as they didn't hesitate to strike them, like an untamable monster. They didn't even possess any remorse as a few members of the Foot died before their very eyes. They just killed them and continued to the next ninja. However, there was no doubt in Leo's find that they would grieve for them later if they survived this.

Donatello twirled his staff skillfully before he jabbed one of the ninjas in the stomach, sending him flying into a plant pot just besides the door. This caused the purple-clad reptile to notice his eldest and youngest brother by the doorway, however, he could only smile before he was back into the heat of the fight.

"Mikey, grab my katanas!" Leonardo asked his younger brother who freed them from his sheathes. Mikey held out the katanas for his brother to take and he did while murmuring his thanks. "Now take out your nunchucks," Leo requested, causing Mikey to give him a weird look.

"What!?"

"Take out your nunchucks!"

"What the shell are you gonna' to do with nunchucks? You can't even wield them properly!" Mikey commented, taking out the weapons from his belt and holding them out for his brother. However, Leo pushed them away.

"They aren't for me, Mikey. They are for you!" Leo explained. This only confused the orange-clad terrapin more.

"But I thought you said I am not allowed to get up and fight! You aren't making any sense, dude."

"Did I say you are going to get up?" Leo gave his brother a wicked smile.

"Heh?"

Leonardo laughed at his brother's confusion, "Just keep twirling your nunchucks. Maybe you can hit some of them from my back," Leonardo instructed. This made Michelangelo to grin also. "Good plan," Mikey grinned. With that, Leonardo ran towards his younger brothers and towards the horde of Foot Ninjas. As they went, he held out his katanas and Mikey twirled his nunchucks, like his brother had instructed of him, and they were soon in the heat of the fight.

The four brothers slashed, hit, kicked, jabbed and stabbed any ninja that came before them and the chaos in the room quickly multiplied. There were so many ninjas that Leo and Mikey were unable to see Donatello and Raphael as they fought but they just had to hope for their welfare. However, they knew they were very capable fighters so they weren't too worried for them.

Michelangelo, despite being badly injured, was very helpful despite being a burden in a way for Leo. He knocked back any ninjas that got too close and warned his elder brother of any ninja that was coming his way. The katana wielder had to put his entire trust in his brother. He knew that if Mikey really wished too, he could give him false directions or not warn him of incoming ninjas which could result in him to get injured. That would be the perfect revenge for Leo betraying them. However, Mikey was loyal and the thought of doing such a thing never even entered the youngest turtle's mind.

The crowds of Foot Ninja after a little while slowly started to die down. At first it wasn't noticable but as time continued to pass and adrenalin began to fade, it became clear that there were far less ninjas than at the beginning. What made the brothers really notice though, is when they saw Donatello and Raphael. However, the brothers never got the chance to feel glad about the less amount of ninjas before something made their blood run cold.

At first Mikey and Leonardo didn't see him standing behind the middle brothers. They didn't see the blood spluttering from their brothers chests. They didn't see the brothers slowly losing consciousness due to lack of blood... However, when they did see all this, Mikey couldn't help but scream.

The person standing behind the two turtles was the Shredder and he had stabbed Donatello and Raphael...

**Dum Dum DUMMMM! **

**So are Don and Raph dead? What will happen next? Send me your thoughts**


	37. Clever Logic

**Hayy guys and Merry Christmas eve. **

**We are starting to near the end now :( awwwww, I am really sad now. Ahh well, there are still quite a few chapters left before we need to worry about that. Also, thank you for the many reviews last chapter and I am sure you are excited (or nervous) to see what is going to happen to the turtle brothers. **

**I really hope you enjoy this chapter and Happy Holidays everyone.**

Leonardo felt his heart begin to beat faster as he stared at his brothers' limp forms. Michelangelo screamed in grief as he sobbed to himself. He felt scared. Leo could tell from his fast heartbeat and his rapid shaking. Though he was in no better state. Placing his brother on the ground, Leo sprant forward to his brothers' sides and kneeled besides them before placing two fingers on Raphael's neck. Closing his eyes, he prayed to the heavens for his wellbeing.

Badumm...Badumm...Badumm...

A wave of relief washed over him. His heart beat seemed unaffected. Glancing at Raphael's body, he noticed there was only a small wound by his side. Raphael must have managed to dodge enough to avoid serious damage. "Wha' the shell are ya' doin' Leo!?" Raphael glared at him, causing the elder brother to jump. He didn't know Raphael was still conscious. "I'm fine. Look at Don!"

Turning to look at his second youngest brother, he could see that Donatello was in far worse a state than Raphael. His normally green skin was sickly yellow and there were many blood stains on his plastron. He was also unconscious.

Placing two fingers on Donatello's neck like he had Raphael, Leonardo closed his eyes and prayed one again.

Baaaaaaddddduuuummmmm...Baaaaaaddddduuuummmmm...Baaaaaaddddduuuummmmm...

That worried Leonardo. Donatello's heart beat was slow and prolonged. Nothing like how it should be. Just Leo's luck that Donatello was the one who was in this state; the best one when it came to injuries. Even if Donatello was a mechanic he was the most trained in medical science out of the brothers. Leo actually knew extremely little on medical science. He did not know what to do when your brother had just been stabbed.

Glancing at the purple-clad reptile's torso, he could easily see where the sword had entered his body. Donatello must have twisted his body to prevent the sword from hitting his heart and it ended up stabbing through his rib cage and had gone out through his shell. Judging by the amount of blood he was losing, the sword had missed Don's organs but the wound was very serious. All Leo knew was that he needed medical help straight away.

"Wow! That turtle was easier to harm than I thought!" Shredder commented as he stepped forward, prodding Donatello with his foot. Leonardo glared at his enemy before grabbing Donatello around the neck and embracing him weakly as tears fell down his face. This was all his fault... ALL HIS DAMN FAULT! If he had not been such a stupid _fucking_ turtle then none of this would have happened. He should have just killed himself when he'd been captured by the Shredder. Would have been better for everyone if he had. Donatello wouldn't be in this state if he had.

Suddenly, this grief and guilt he felt inside of him seemed to start to fade and flames of anger rose within his emotionally battered soul. It felt strange. Anger was a rare emotion for him but it was never this strong. He felt... murderous. Vengeful even.

"Fuck off, Shredder!" Raphael hissed, standing up from the ground. Leonardo could see the same murderous gleam in his eyes that he too possessed. Things were sure to get bloody. "I'm goin' to take ya' into tha' depths of hell for wha' you've done to Don." He said with a dark voice, taking out his sais with a frightening slowness that even scared his elder brother. That is when Raph turned to Leo. "My revenge on ya' can wait."

"Are you sure about that, Raphael?" Shredder spoke up with a smirk. "After all he has done... after all the times he has betrayed you?"

Raphael looked confused at his spiked-garbed foe and Leo felt his heart stop. Oh no. He was going to tell him about his crimes. Why did Shredder have to tell him now that he looked like he was about to kill. Suddenly, Raphael kicked out his leg and Shredder fell backwards before backward rolling and landing on his feet. Raphael had a grim look on his face. "If you are talkin' about tha' criminal thing, I've already know about tha'."

Leonardo felt his eyes widen. He knew?! How the shell did he know? "H-how?" Leo stammered as Raphael continued to look grim.

"There were three things tha' indicated me actually," Raphael began. "The first was when ya' fought us after bein' in that post office. Remember when your and mine's weapons clashed durin' the fight and I tried to break your katana? Well, no Foot ninja carries a katana with-a blue handle and ninjas aren't the commonest things in New York."

"The second thing was your shoulder injury. Don had tried to hit it durin' the same fight and when I saw ya' after you'd been knocked unconscious when Mikey had gotten captured, I remembered it. Don had forgotten about it though and assumed it had been from when Shredder knocked ya' out. Though both of these things were only slight doubts and I honestly thought that the hooded guy was his own person. However, when ya' fought me and Don earlier and I saw how you fought... I just realised. It made sense."

Leonardo suddenly felt extremely nervous. Out of all his brothers, he never expected Raphael to be the one to figure it out with so much logic behind it. That was something that Donatello was good at. Yet, he had. He really did underestimate his younger brother's abilities sometimes.

"Right now, I want to wring your little neck, Fearless." Raphael admitted before he turned to Shredder. "However, I wan' Shredder to visit Hell before you."

Leonardo got to his feet as he unsheathed his katanas. "I can second that."

Shredder laughed at the two brothers who were getting to his feet. "Two healthy and two injured turtles. You don't stand a chance, you know that right? All I have to do is send my remaining Foot Ninjas on your injured brothers while I fight you and you will lose!"

"You won't lay a hand on hand on Michelangelo and Donatello!" A voice sounded. It sounded determined. Turning around, the two terrapins and the villain's eyes fell upon a grey, elderly rat who had lent his cane to Michelangelo and had Donatello's arm draped over his shoulder.

"Master Splinter!" Leonardo and Raphael yelled in union, with Raphael saying it like 'Masta' Splinta'

"My sons," Splinter began. "I will take Donatello and Michelangelo. You two defeat Shredder."

The two turtles bowed before getting into their fighting positions, "Yes, sensei!"

Shredder laughed. "Very well then. Let us see which of the two elder brothers will be the first to die." That is when he ran forward and the terrapin's did the same.


	38. Ready to Die?

The two turtle brothers met the spiked-garb with sparks flying off their metal weapons as their enemy thrust them backwards, causing them both to fall, roll, then get back up; once again ready to fight. "Cute," Shredder commented as he looked at the ready turtles with a cocky expression. "Really adorable."

Raphael growled beneath his breath as he ran forward at his sworn enemy, sais prepared to stab. Shredder just chortled as he neared him before kicking his knee when he was just about to hit him. Raphael fell to the ground with a thud, groaning as the wind in his lungs got knocked out of him. Shredder just stared at the red-clad turtle, a disapproving look on his face. "You're injured, low in numbers and in skill. Yet, you are so confident in your abilities that you fight me? Do you not remember our first encounter? If that stupid rat you call a father hadn't shown up you would already be dead. What makes you think you can beat me when there is only two of you?"

Shredder suddenly side-stepped as Leonardo pounced at him, sending the eldest turtle brother into the wall. He then returned his attention to Raphael who was starting to get back to his feet. He placed his foot on his plastron and he fell back to the floor again. "You may have an iron will, but what good is it if you can't even hit me once?"

Leonardo suddenly got to his feet before running towards his enemy again, that is when Shredder punched him square in the face and he was once again sent to the floor. The eldest turtle couldn't believe it. Shredder was too fast. They weren't even getting close to hitting him. They would be dead before they could even scratch him.

"You bastard," Raphael cussed with a voice filled with venom.

"Swearing is only used by people who are too weak to take their anger out through fighting." Shredder countered," Weak... a very fitting title for you, eh Raphael?" He placed his foot on the mutant ninja's head. "Take that title with you into the depths of hell."

"NOOO!" Leonardo leapt to his feet before hopping on the Shredder's back, holding his neck tightly in a strangling grip. The man choked in surprise as his eyes widened and he fell backwards, freeing Raphael, and landed on the ground with a thud. Taking the already emotionally battered Leonardo with him. Leo grunted in pain as he felt the bone in his right arm click out-of-place beneath the pair's huge combined weight before shattering as the impact took its toll on it. Leonardo screamed when the pair stopped falling and the shock of pain filled his whole body.

Shredder glared, picked up his katana from the ground, and walked over to the broken-armed turtle. "I should have known not to let my guard down," He said to himself as he pointed the tip of his blade at Leonardo's chin. "No bother, you didn't injure me. You just managed to harm yourself. What an idiotic turtle you are, Leonardo. I don't even need to fight you! You will just kill yourself in the end-"

"So what!?" Leonardo cut off the masked villain, causing him to give the eldest turtle a weird look.

"What do you mean, 'so what'?"

Leonardo looked up at the man with an expression of pure hatred on his face. "So what if I kill myself trying to harm you? Let me tell you something, Shredder. I believe that all life has meaning and life can only be repayed with a life. That is the reason I never kill despite my brothers killing. I believe that if I killed someone, I should die to repay that loss. However, Shredder, you're an exception. Before you, I have never felt so angry towards someone before. Never wanted to see the cold corpse of someone before. You deserve to die! If I die trying to make that happen that is fine with me!"

"Such noble words." Shredder replied, not seeming fazed by the eldest turtle's small speech. "However, Leonardo, you couldn't even defeat me even if you went for a suicidal blow!" Suddenly, Raphael grabbed Shredder by the legs and tackled him to the ground. Punching him square in the face as he hit the floor. Shredder glared at the hot head before he grabbed his katana and stabbed the wooden end of the sword into the second eldest's eye. Raphael cried out as the weapon got plunged into his eye socket before recoiling away, gripping his eye in agony.

"Damn it!" he hissed.

"See," Shredder gestured at the red-clad turtle. "Even your brother, who is by far the best fighter out of you four turtles, can't tackle me without almost ending up blind."

Leonardo glanced at his younger brother, worry creasing his features. He felt scared for his brother's sight as, judging by the blood that now spluttered from his right eye, Shredder had harmed it pretty badly. What if he ended up blind in that eye? That wasn't all that worried him though. The pair was getting no nearer to harming the Shredder than at the beginning of the fight. He would have thought that they would have at least caused a minor injury on him by now.

"SHREDDER!" A voice yelled. It was a voice Leonardo had heard before but couldn't put his finger on from where. That is when a Foot Ninja ran through the door and Leo realised where he had heard it before. The Foot Ninja was the one who had been the leader of the group of ninjas on his second crime. He could even remember his cocky tone from back then as well. The ninja seemed worried.

"The fire... from the room where you tried to burn the orange turtle...has burnt the fiftieth to the seventieth floors... we're trapped in here... the smoke...it is killing everyone... We can't extinguish the fire!" He gasped breathlessly, sweat pouring down his face. Shredder widened his eyes in rage before walking over to the ninja and standing in front of him. At first he just glared at him, that was until he grabbed his head and turned it quickly. Snapping his neck. The ninja fell limp on the floor. Dead.

The Shredder continued to glare at the ninja though. "Of course you won't be able to extinguish it, dumbass," He told the ninja's limp body. "There are tiny bombs in that room which I put in there if Michelangelo got freed. I created them from the materials Leonardo got me from his crimes. The bombs, when they explode, create a small flame which smoke is highly poisonous. Since there are millions of bombs in that room it is only a matter of time before we are all killed from the smoke!"

He turned to Leonardo and Raphael with a twisted grin on his face. "Are you two ready to die?"

Leo and Raph glanced at each other. Shredder was going to kill them by intoxicating them. There was no escape now. They were surely going to die.

**DUM DUM DUUMMMMMMMMM**

**Are the two turtle brothers going to die? I hope this fight scene wasn't too bad. **


	39. Going Back

**This chapter was a pain to right. That is the reason it is so small and I'll admit, I really hate this chapter. Everything feels so rushed and OCC and... yeah. There is now one, maybe two, chapters left. **

**I hope you enjoy anyways and please review. We are nearly at 300. **

Death. It was a word Leonardo had long learnt to except as, being a ninja, he was constantly putting his life in danger and that could have easily resulted in death. He didn't fear it. However, he couldn't deny that knowing that his death was about to greet him was not making him feel nervous about what was about to come. Leo had no idea what to expect from it. Would it be painful? Painless? or in the middle? Would he go to heaven? Hell? Be reborn? or would he just die. He didn't know. In truth, before now he hadn't really thought about it.

Glancing over to Raphael, he could see a look of pure anger on his face, but Leo knew he was afraid. More scared than him possibly. Raphael transferred nearly all his negative emotions into anger, including fear. So, if he looked really angry. He could be really upset, pained or in this case, afraid. That is what Leonardo believed anyways. After all, considering he never cried, Raphael must get rid of his emotions some way and he always seemed angry.

However, what made it so much worse was dying at the hands of the Shredder and the fact that Raphael was going to die with him. This was his battle with Shredder and now, Raphael had been pulled into it. He hated himself for that. Why must his every attempt to protect his brothers end in failure? Was he really that unlucky or did the worlds logic just hate him?

Shredder knew his way of thinking and smiled at Leo. "You may be prepared, Leonardo, but your brother, Raphael, isn't ready to die!" He stated what Leo already knew. "So, since I am the kind leader of the Foot clan..." Leonardo and Raphael glared at him. "I will give Raphael a way to escape!"

Leonardo felt his heart almost freeze. He would give Raphael a way to escape but he knew before he even continued that he would have to do something in exchange. "However, Leonardo, you must not try to fight me when I kill you! I want to end your life! It'd be boring if the smoke just poisoned you or if you tried to fight me."

Raphael scowled, "You're crazy Shredda'! Like Leo would agree to tha!'"

"Deal!" Leo said bluntly. Raphael gave him a look. "However, " Leonardo continued, looking dead in Shredder's eyes. "You have to save Raphael first and I want to see him escape. You can't just give me your word like you normally do."

Shredder grinned twistedly, "Deal!"

"Fearless! I'm gonna' kill ya' now! Are you bein' serious? We can still beat 'im!" Raphael insisted. He seemed furious with his brother. He believed that if anyone should flee, it was Leonardo. Raphael felt like he was a more capable fighter than he was and that he had a better chance of beating Shredder. Actually, he'd rather them both stay here to fight Shredder. They were lower in skill than him, sure, but they would be even lower if one of them left. They still had a chance even if the odds were against them.

Leonardo turned to look at Raph with a dead stare. Like the life had been sucked out of him and it was at that moment, Raphael realised that he'd be escaping whether he liked the prospect or not. Whether he put up a fight or not, Leo would make sure he was safe.

Raphael knowing how deadly serious Leonardo was, didn't fight his decision and rather reluctantly, agreed to work with his brother. Shredder showed Leo a secret exit in the throne room which had a long wire connected to the next building. All Raph would have to do was climb over.

"How do I know you won't cut the wire?" Leonardo asked suspiciously. Shredder grinned.

"Leonardo. If I wanted to kill one of you I'd have the decency to cut you down with my own blade. Not have you fall to your death. Where's the fun in that?" So, Raphael made his way across. However, just as Raphael began, he turned to look at Leo.

"Fearless, right now, I hate ya'." He stated rather bluntly. "However, you're still my brotha'" He turned away so that he wouldn't meet Leonardo's eyes. However, if you could see his face, you would see a single tear rolling down his face. "Don't die, Leo!"

Leonardo smiled, "I don't intend to!" Suddenly, Leonardo spun around quickly and grasped Shredder around the neck. Shredder choked in surprise. It was at that moment the fire started to spread into the room and some of the decor began to burn. Leonardo choked a little on the poisonous gas which was weakly filling his lungs. "W-what are you doing?" Shredder choked, scratching Leonardo's arms in an attempt to free himself.

Leonardo glared at his enemy with pure hatred. "Remember when I said I wanted to see your dead corpse more than anything?" He said, his voice dry and venom filled. "This is my revenge for all you have done to me, my brothers and for going back on our many deals!" The fire began to spread and Leo gripped Shredder's neck tighter. The poisonous smoke was really getting to him and already he felt light-headed. "I am going to hell and taking you with me!"

The room was now filled with the smoke and the floor beneath the pair's feet began to crumble as the floor beneath the room they were in collapsed due to the fire. Some of the floors were made totally of wood after all. Leonardo felt like he was going to cough up his lungs as the poison smoke began to paralyze him.

Suddenly the room shook and the wooden floor they were standing on broke. That is when the Foot Headquarters came crashing down.


	40. It's In His Nature

The once magnificent building fell to the ground with a crash. Debris and ash fluttered in the strangely silent air and what was left of the flames was slowly dying down from the rain that had begun to fall from the grey clouds. The night had vanished now and a sunless morning had begun in New York.

When the building had first fallen, most of the business people in the buildings around it had heard the crash and had abandoned their desks or whatever else they were doing to go crowd around what was left. Not really bothering about the flickering flames or the small pieces of debris that could hit them. Luckily though, nobody got injured. After a while, however, the smoke from the flames started to make it hard to breath for the crowd and so, the crowd slowly vanished until there were nobody left besides two figures.

The two figures consisted of one bulky tall person and one small and thin figure. They both wore hoodies with hoods covering their heads and jogging bottoms to cover their legs. You couldn't see their skin.

Mikey and Splinter stared at what was left of Food Headquarters with amazed eyes. Feeling a chill of fear wash over them as they thought of what may have happened to Raphael and Leonardo. They hadn't seen either of them yet. What if they'd been killed by the falling building? Donatello, whom was still unconscious, had been given to April (who Mikey phoned) and taken back to the sewers and to Leatherhead who they both hoped would be able heal him. They took some comfort in thinking that Leatherhead was very smart for a crocodile.

However, their thoughts were far from the purple-clad turtle at the moment.

Both of the mutants wanted more than anything to start shifting the wreckage to try to find their sons/brothers bodies just in case they were alive and managed to avoid the worst of the wreck but Michelangelo was still badly injured and Splinter would start to go into a coughing fit if he even got near the flames. His lungs were far to weak from age to take on the poisonous smoke. "Awww dude," Mikey murmured as the fire brigade arrived and started to put out the fire. The pair turned away from the wreck and hopped up onto a nearby building with a little discomfort. They continued to watch the fire brigade from the roof. "If Raph and Leo aren't okay... I... I... I dunno. They have to be alive. They have to!"

Splinter glanced at his youngest son with much sorrow showing in his eyes. "Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo have also been given more tutoring than you and Donatello. Because of that, they should know how to escape in cases of fire. They will be fine!" That was a lie. Raphael and Leonardo train the most, however, they didn't learn anything that Mikey and Don didn't. Even if their age was older, the four turtles had been found and started training at the same time. Also, Splinter had never trained ever any of them about what to do in fires.

He just hoped that Michelangelo wouldn't look too deep into his lie.

Michelangelo gave his father a suspicious look, however, that was before he looked into the sky with a confused expression on his face. "What the shell?" He murmured.

"What is it, Michelangelo?"

"Is that a UFO?! Tell me that's a UFO! A... green weirdly shaped one," Michelangelo grinned with excitement. Splinter looked up and saw something flying towards where the pair were standing. His old eyes weren't sharp enough to allow him to see any details but he knew it was definitely green.

Mikey squinted his eyes, "Is that Raph?"

That is when the _thing_ landed before them. At closer glance, it was clearly some sort of mutated turtle with a red bandana covering their eyes and a pair of sais hanging at their waist. Cuts and a few small bruises covered his body and there were also a few burns on their right arm. However, there wasn't just him as hanging limply and unconscious on his shoulder was a blue-clad turtle with many more burns and injuries than the latter. He had a pair of katanas in the sheaths on his back.

"Raphael!" Splinter exclaimed, rushing forward a little. "Leonardo!"

"He needs medical help, Masta' Splinta'!" Raphael told his father with a voice seeping with determination. Splinter smiled at his son.

"Don't worry, we'll take him to Leatherhead. Knowing his skills in the medical science, he is capable of healing Leonardo. But we must be quick! His wounds are very severe!"

X-X-X

_24 hours later..._

Leonardo awoke, stinging and aching from his wounds, no less than a day after he'd been knocked unconscious by the Shredder. He would have easily died by the collapsing building if Raphael had moved from his spot on the wire and not noticed the fire. However, Raphael had remained on the wire when Leonardo attacked the Shredder and had managed to grab his brother's hand when the building had collapsed and pull him free of danger. But Shredder had managed to knock Leo pretty hard on the head before he had plummeted with the building.

When Raphael had arrived in front of Michelangelo and Splinter with Leo draped on his shoulder once the building had hit the ground, Splinter had advised that they visit Leatherhead. However, one thing they weren't expecting was Donatello to already be back on his feet and helping the crocodile. "Turns out Shredder paralyzed him, making him appear near dead," Leatherhead explained when the three mutants had seen Donatello. "The sword he had stabbed Donatello with was coated with a serum to paralyze him temporarily in case Shredder missed his organs. However, it was pretty weak. He was able to move again after around two hours."

"His wounds were surprisingly not too serious either. Donatello had saved his organs. However, the blade managed to go through his shell. This will leave a scar."

After that, Leatherhead had shifted Leonardo on to a bed in the infirmary to recover. All three brothers had tried to help the crocodile but he refused their help. "You are all badly injured," He said simply. "Donatello, you may have avoided serious injury but you were still stabbed and Michelangelo, you were mercilessly tortured. Even you Raphael; you got injured before and during the fight with Shredder, your eye is especially bad, and you badly burnt your arm saving Leonardo. You all need rest!"

It was rare that Leatherhead was assertive, so, somewhat reluctantly, they had sat down on separate beds in the infirmary and tried to rest. However, nobody could sleep. They were all worried about Leonardo. His concern for their brother led Donatello to ask Raphael a few questions about what happened at Foot headquarters when Raphael revealed something Donatello wasn't expecting.

"Leo worked for the Shredder!" Donatello exclaimed, wincing slightly as he jerked upwards into a sitting position.

"Yip!" Michelangelo replied. His head rested on his hands as he leaned backwards carelessly against the headboard. Weirdly enough, Mikey was the one with the highest pain threshold. So, he felt no more pain than Donatello despite having more injuries than both his brothers. "But I talked with him after he saved me from the burning room. Leo said that he did it to protect us!"

"Do ya' believe that Mikey?" Raphael asked his younger brother uncertainly. He was angry at his elder, but now that he had even more time to think about it, he was starting to have doubts about his rage. If he had a good reason then Leonardo didn't deserve to have any of his brothers angry at him. However, what really bugged Raph was the fact that Leo had never mentioned anything to any of them. The fact that he'd lied. That was a dark cloud of thought which refused to leave him alone. Just the hard truth that Leonardo had betrayed them kept his rage alive.

Michelangelo nodded curtly. "Yeah, dude. Leo may have some serious honour issues but we all know that he will never betray us. That is just his nature. It is like that story with the scorpion and the frog! It's in his nature.

Raphael smiled weakly. "Good point!"

Suddenly, a groan sounded from the side of the room and all three brothers glanced over at the elder brother. "Leo!"

**One chapter left.**

**Sorry for how long this took. I suddenly had an attack of writers block for all my stories. However, I hope this chapter made up for the wait. **


	41. Always Be a Friend and Not a Foe

**Final chapter guys! I am all sad now :( Hope you enjoy though.**

Leonardo stirred, almost restlessly, as he slowly regained his consciousness. Even in his barely conscious state, Leo could hear the skuttle of feet approaching him. Using his finely tuned hearing, he easily worked out the feet belonged to his brothers. "Leeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooo!" Michelangelo called childishly as Leonardo's eyes started to flutter. Donatello and Raphael sat on the beds besides the one Leo rested on while Mikey sat at the end of Leo's bed. "Wakey, wakey, rise and shine. Mikey is making pancakes!" Mikey continued to coax his brother awake.

"...pancakes..." Leo mumbled before he opened his blue eyes slowly. His thoughts slightly muddled. His gaze immediately fell on his brothers. "Hello," The three brothers smiled at their somewhat confused elder. It was not rare for him to feel confused for a few moments after awakening from being unconscious.

"Are you feeling okay, Leo?" Donatello asked softly, his medic instincts kicking in.

"Yeah... but what happened to you lot?" Leonardo widened his eyes slightly as he caught sight of his brothers, they were all still badly injured after all. It was then something clicked inside his head and he remembered what happened at Foot Headquarters. His first thought was the word _shit. _He was so dead. His brothers were going to kill him. Mikey and Raph both knew about what he had done and no doubt Donatello knew by now. He was bracing himself to be disowned and thrust on to the streets. "Do you _all_ know?" Leonardo asked nervously, knowing they had realised he had regained his memories.

His brothers didn't reply. They only glanced at each other, bit their lower lips, then turned to look at him before nodding. "Yip," Raphael muttered darkly after a few moments.

"Including Don?"

"Includin' Don."

Leonardo looked down, twiddling his thumbs due to his nerves. He really hated himself for what he had done, that was the truth. He doubted an entire lifetime of good deeds would make up for his actions. He'd lost everything. His honour was gone. His pride was gone. The trust he'd made with his family was gone. He was only waiting for the moment for him to lose his family also. He had already lost everything else anyways.

"Fearless!" Raphael yelled in his ear suddenly, jolting him out of his thoughts. He clearly had tried to get his brother to listen a few times. Leonardo's head shot up in an instant to look at his younger brother. His face was unreadable. "We, no, me and Donatello are angry at you. Really angry. Howeva', accordin' to Mickey, you have a good reason to have betrayed us. Now, you better get explainin' before I kick your sorry shell to the moon and freakin' back!"

So, Leonardo did what his brother had asked and had explained to his three brothers his reasons for joining the Shredder along with what happened during the crimes and anything else that had happened. Including more details in this story than the time when he had explained his reasons to Mikey. Leo had looked down in shame throughout the whole story and had spoken so quietly that his voice was barely audible. When he had finished, he had a worried expression on his face.

Michelangelo seemed a little more surprised by the extra details Leo had added in but he still had a weak smile on his face, Donatello looked deep in thought while Raphael's face was, once again, unreadable. A silence filled the room as everyone took in Leonardo's words. Leo didn't even want to think what was going on in their heads. However, he was bracing himself for the worst. "You're a moron, Leo!" Raphael sighed after a while. "A right idiot!"

Leonardo raised a brow. "Eh?"

"We thought it would be worse than that!" Donatello admitted. "We thought you had killed someone. You certainly seemed guilty like you had."

"I did see someone being murdered," Leonardo reminded his brother. He was not going to allow his brothers to pity him like he believed they would by how they were acting. "And I couldn't save them!"

"It wasn't your fault!" Mikey countered. "It was that ninja's!"

"But-"

"Leo," Raphael covered his older brother's mouth to silence him. Leo looked up at his brother with expectant eyes. "Ya' may have done somethin' wrong, but it was for a good reason. You committed crimes to protect us. I could understand why ya' would feel guilty if you had refused what Shredder had proposed, but ya' didn't. You made the best choice."

Leonardo widened his eyes slightly. He had fully expected Raphael to pretty much hit the ceiling when he told him what he'd done. Not give him reasons why he shouldn't feel guilty. "There was nothin' ya' coulda' done differently so shut it before I beat ya' black and blue... well, more black and blue than you already are!"

Leonardo smiled weakly. "Thanks..." His brothers smiled. Leonardo never expected he'd be persuaded that he'd made the right choice about joining Shredder, however, his brothers were, in a way, his weakness. They could make him think or do anything. Like make him believe something which he didn't believe before.

"So..." Mikey smiled brightly. "Who wants pancakes?"

X-X-X

In later years, Leonardo would always look back at this dark time to prove to himself just how much his brothers meant to him. How far he would go to protect them. He would die to save their lives.

Donatello recovered from his wounds and the scar that was left on his shell became his pride in a way and he constantly used this to impress April whom he had a crush on at the time, though this crush vanished as his age increased. He also learnt more about medical science until he was (sort of) a doctor. Just without any qualifications.

Michelangelo's wounds also recovered, however, they left many scars over his body. Giving him a very frightening appearance. As his age increased, his innocence remained. However, most of his childish hobbies like playing video games left his life. He did keep cooking though and always kept adoring pizza.

Raphael was the least lucky with his wounds. Though most of them healed, the wound to his eye he had sustained when Shredder had stabbed the hilt of his katana in his eye left him blind in that eye. Leatherhead removed it and Raphael began to wear an eye path over his red mask. As he aged, Leonardo and Raphael became closer and closer. They always had each others backs. Also, with the help of Leonardo, Raphael became less and less hot-headed until he was even calmer than Leonardo.

Splinter, regretfully, died not long after the crime incident through a heart attack. He died in his sleep. However, the turtle brother's knew he was dying.

Leonardo didn't change much. After Shredder was announced dead on the news three days after Leonardo was out of the infirmary, he began to rebuild his honour and strengthen his fighting abilities. Though his honour never felt as strong as it was before, it came pretty close. This pleased Leo.

Now, Leo was looking at the stars, smiling. Remembering just how much his brothers meant to him.

Leo would always be a friend and never a foe to his brothers...

The End

**IT'S FINSHED! **

**I really hope you liked this story guys and I would like to thank ALL you guys who stuck with the story. You guys really are the best. This story holds the record for having the most chapters/words/reviewed out of all my stories. Wow. You guys are awesome. **

**I am really going to miss this story... :(**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and I hope to see you again with other stories. **

**For the last time.**

**NJ7009 :)**


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